B 


I 


Copyright,  According  to  Act  of  Congress, 
t   t     BY  ALFRED  HAMILTON, 
1884. 


PREFACE. 


CAMPAIGN  Biographies  are  a  national  neces 
sity.  Why?  Curiosity  concerning  candidates 
prompts  many  persons  to  secure  and  read  them, 
but  there  is  a  broader  and  deeper  reason  for 
their  production  than  the  demand  of  mere  curi 
osity. 

Our  Presidents  are  far  from  being  absolute 
monarchs.  The  humblest  citizen  has  no  need  to 
stand  in  personal  fear  of  our  Chief  Magistrate. 
He  is  a  citizen  among  his  fellow-citizens,  like  them 
amenable  to  the  laws  of  the  land.  And  yet  the 
Presidency  is  no  sinecure.  The  President  is  not 
a  figure  head  to  the  good  "Ship  of  State."  Nor 
is  he  the  commander.  He  is  rather  the  pilot. 
His  hand  is  on  the  helm.  He  directs  the  move 
ments  so  long  as  they  be  presumptively  right  and 
reasonably  safe ;  but  there  is  a  commander  in  the 
embodied  nation  whose  word  can  dismiss  the 
pilot,  and  whose  might  can  control  the  ship, 
whether  it  be  for  her  safety  or  her  loss.  The 
people  know  .their  ppwej*.  They  make  and 

M71864:  s 


6  PREFACE. 

unmake  Presidents.  But  they  do  both  these 
duties  with  reason  and  for  cause,  and  this  is 
why  the  thoughtful  people  will  read  about  the 
candidates,  for  whom  their  votes  are  asked. 
Here  rests,  therefore,  the  national  necessity  for 
Campaign  Biographies. 

And  this  Biography  of  the  Democratic  candi 
dates  for  our  highest  national  offices  is  a  most 
worthy  one?  Long  before  the  nominating  Con 
vention  met,  careful  inquiry  was  entered  into  to 
discover  the  certainties,  the  probabilities,  and  the 
possibilities  of  the  approaching  contest.  The  cer 
tainties  were  few ;  the  possibilities  were  unlimited. 
But  all  promising  lines  were  worked,  and,  at  no 
small  expense,  material  was  gathered  concerning 
every  probable  candidate.  In  none  of  these 
experimental  efforts  was  there  better  success  than 
in  the  case  of  those  on  whom  the  uncertain 
honors  fell  at  last. 

Forwarded  beyond  all  compeers  by  this  prelim 
inary  work,  and  vigorously  pushed,  night  and 
day,  by  competent  authors,  this  Biography  of  the 
Democratic  nominees  is  believed  to  be  the  first 
in  the  field,  and  wholly  worthy  of  the  nation's 
patronage. 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


TO 


THE     WIDKST     DIFFUSION     OF 


NOT 

TO     THE     FfRTHF-RANCE     OF 


IS 
THIS     VOLUME     DEDICATED. 


CONTENTS. 


PREFATORY  .  .  1-18 


BIOGRAPHY  OF  GROVER  CLEVELAND 


CHAPTER  I. 
PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  LIFE 21 

CHAPTER  II. 
PROFESSIONAL  LIFE 32 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  MAYORALTY 40 

CHAPTER  IV. 
CANVASS  FOR  GOVERNOR 52 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  GOVERNORSHIP. — Veto  of  the  Five-cent  Fare  and  other  Bills  .      64 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  GOVERNORSHIP. — His  appointments  to  office — Labor  Questions 

— Car  Conductors'  Bill So 

9 


IO  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  GOVERNORSHIP. — Corporations 91 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  GOVERNORSHIP. — Municipalities 97 

CHAFFER  IX. 
THE  GOVERNORSHIP. — Second  Message  and  general  Official  Course  .    118 

CHAPTER   X. 

THE   PRESIDENTIAL   NOMINATIONS. — Democratic    Candidates,    Mc 
Donald,  Randall,  Thurman,  Morrison,  Carlisle,  Bayard   ....     130 

CHAPTER  XL 
POLITICAL  SITUATION. — The  Morrison   Bill — State  Convention  .    .149 

CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  CONVENTION  AND  NOMINATION. — The  Unit  Rule 157 


BIOGRAPHY  OF    HON.   THOMAS   A.    HENDRICKS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  OFFICE  OF  VICE-PRESIDENT 177 

CHAPTER  II. 
ANCESTRY  AND  EARLY   LIFE 182 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  LAD 192 

CHAPTER  IV. 
AT  THE  BAR ,....,, 195 


CONTENTS.  I  I 

CHAPTER  V. 
AN  EARLY  POLITICAL  CAREER 203 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Two  TERMS  IN  CONGRESS 207 

CHAPTER  VII. 
DURING  THE  WAR 216 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE 224 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Two  GUBERNATORIAL  TERMS 233 

CHAPTER  X. 
ELECTED  VICE-PRESIDENT 243 

CHAPTER  XL 
MR.  HENDRICKS  AT  HOME 253 

CHAPTER  XII. 
A  POPULAR  PUBLIC  SPEAKER 264 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
ON  THE  STUMP 269 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
IN  CONTROVERSY 275 

CHAPTER  XV. 
RENOMINATED   FOR  VICE-PRESIDENT 282 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
AFTER  THE  NOMINATION   .  289 


12 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

NOTIFICATION  AND  ACCEPTANCE 296 

RECORD  OF  THE  CONVENTION. 

Chapter  I.      Gathering  of  the  Hosts 303 

Chapter  II.     Balloting 321 

Chapter  III.  The  Platform 331 

PRINCIPLES  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY. 

Chapter  I.         Principles  of  Washington 343 

Chapter  II.        Principles  of  Jefferson 348 

Chapter  III.      Principles  of  Madison 351 

Chapter  IV.       Principles  of  Jackson 354 

Chapter  V.        The  Principle  of  State  Rights 361 

Chapter  VI.       The  Right  of  Coercion 367 

Chapter  VII.     The  Future  of  Democracy 371 

OUR  PRESIDENTS. 

1.  George  Washington „    .  385 

2.  John  Adams .  399 

3.  Thomas  Jefferson 405 


CONTENTS.  1 3 

4.  James  Madison 415 

5.  James  Monroe 418 

6.  John  Quincy  Adams 422 

7.  Andrew  Jackson 426 

8.  Martin  Van  Buren 433 

9.  William  Henry  Harrison 436 

10.  John  Tyler 440 

11.  James  Knox  Polk ^/j 

12.  Zachary  Taylor 448 

13.  Millard  Fillmore 455 

14.  Franklin  Pierce 458 

15.  James  Buchanan 462 

16.  Abraham  Lincoln 467 

17.  Andrew  Johnson 479 

18.  Ulysses  Simpson  Grant 482 

19  Rutherford  Birchard  Hayes 494 

20.  James  Abram  Garfield 498 

21.  Chester  Allan  Arthur ' 529 


THE  CITIZEN'S  HAND-BOOK. 


1.  Bird-Eye  View  of  Presidential  Contests 535 

2.  Tables  of  Presidential  Election 543 

3.  Presidential  Elections  of  1884 546 

4.  Qualifications  of  Voters 547 

5.  Presidents 548 

6.  Vice-Presidents 549 

7.  Cabinets , 549 


14  CONTENTS. 

8.  Commanders  of  Army ....  555 

9.  Commanders  of  Navy 556 

10.  Speakers  of  Congress ,    .    .    .    .  557 

11.  Congressional  Representation  of  States 557 

12.  Supreme  Court  Justices 559 

13.  Homes  of  Chief  Officers 560 

14.  Our  Representatives  Abroad 561 

15.  Representatives  from  Abroad ...  562 

16.  Pay  of  Navy  Officers 563 

17.  Pay  of  Army  Officers  ...        564 

18.  Pensions  Paid 564 

19.  Balance  of  Trade 565 

20.  Revenues 566 

21.  National  Debt 567 

22.  Political  Divisions  of  Congress      568 

23.  Constitution  of  the  United  States ,    .  569 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


His  EXCELLENCY,  GROVER  CLEVELAND  (steel),  Frontispiece. 

STATE  ST  ,  ALBANY,  AND  THE  CAPITOL,         .         .  53 

GOVERNOR'S  MANSION  AT  ALBANY,  N.  Y.,        .         .  65 

EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER  IN  THE  CAPITOL,  ALBANY,  N.  Y.,  107 

SAMUEL)  TILDEN,      .         ...         .         .         .  133 

ALLEN  G.  THURM  AN,        .         ...         .         .  133 

JOSEPH  E.  MCDONALD,        .         .         .         .         .  139 

WILLIAM  R.  MORRISON,           ....  139 

SAMUEL  J.  RANDALL, 145 

THOMAS  F.  BAYARD, 145 

BENJAMIN  F.  BUTLER, 153 

ROSWELL  P.  FLOWER,       ...         .         .         .  153 

HON.  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS  (steel),   .         .         .  175 

CONVENTION  IN  SESSION,          ....  307 

JOHN  KELLY,  THE  "  TAMMANY  "  LEADER,      .         .  319 

JOHN  D.  CARLISLE,  SPEAKER  OF  CONGRESS,      .  325 

GEORGE  M.  HOADLEY,         .        .         .         .         .  325 

is 


1 6  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

CAPITOL  AT  WASHINGTON,        .        ,         .         .  329 

THE  PRESIDENTS — WASHINGTON  TO  HARRISON,  .         383 

MOUNT  VERNON,  THE  HOME  OF  WASHINGTON,  .     397 

CARPENTER'S  HALL,  PHILADELPHIA,     .  .         401 

INDEPENDENCE  HALL,  PHILADELPHIA,      .         .  .401 
HOUSE  WHERE  "THE  DECLARATION"  WAS  WRITTEN,    407 

MONTICELLO,  THE  HOME  OF  JEFFERSON,      .  .        4!  I 

THE  WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C,        .  .    449 

EAST  ROOM  OF  THE  WHITE  HOUSE,     .         .  .        449 

THE  PRESIDENTS — TYLER  TO  GRANT,       .         .  .     469 

LINCOLN'S  BIRTHPLACE,  ELIZABETHTOWN,  KY.,  .         477 

LINCOLN'S  RESIDENCE  AT  SPRINGFIELD,  ILL.,  .  .     477 

BIRTHPLACE  OF  GRANT,       .         .         .         r     '  .         483 

RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES,.                 .                 .  .    495 

JAMES  A.  GARFIELD,   .         .         .         .         .  .        499 

GARFIELD'S  HOME  AT  MENTOR,  O.,          .         .  .     503 

CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR,          .                 .        .  ;  •      533 


THE  LIFE 


OF 


GROVER  CLEVELAND, 

GOVERNOR    OF    NEW    YORK 

AND 
DEMOCRATIC  CANDIDATE  FOR  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


HON.  WILLIAM  DORSHEIMER, 

EX-LIEUTENANT  GOVERNOR  OF  NEW  YORK  AND  NOW 
MEMBER  OF  CONGRESS. 


AUTHOR'S  NOTE. 


I  UNDERTOOK  the  composition  of  the  following 
sketch  of  Grover  Cleveland's  life  under  circum 
stances  which  made  it  difficult  to  refuse.  I  had 
known  him  since  he  first  came  to  Buffalo,  and  was 
wrell-acquainted  with  the  events  of  his  life  in  that 
city.  I  also  knew  the  men  with  whom  he  was 
associated  there,  and  I  know  most  of  those  who 
are  now  his  friends  and  adherents.  These  quali 
fications  for  the  task  are,  however,  subject  to 
serious  limitations.  It  is  impossible  to  speak  of 
the  living  with  freedom,  either  by  way  of  praise 
or  blame.  Besides,  in  some  of  the  events 
referred  to,  I  have  been  an  actor,  and  cannot 
deal  with  them  with  complete  impartiality.  My 
work  had  to  be  done  so  quickly  that  it  cannot  fail 
to  have  serious  imperfections,  but  it  is  the  expres 
sion  of  my  deliberate  judgment,  and  is,  I  believe, 
substantially  correct. 

WILLIAM  DORSHEIMER. 

HYDE  PARK,  N.  Y.,  July  3151,  1884. 


CHAPTER  I     \t  .    .  ...........  , 

PARENTAGE    AND    EARLY    LIFE. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND  was  born  at  Caldwell, 
Essex  County,  N.  J.,  on  the  i8th  day  of  March, 
1837.  His  father,  Richard  F.  Cleveland,  was 
a  Presbyterian  minister,  the  son  of  William 
Cleveland,  a  watch-maker,  who  lived  at  Nor 
wich,  Conn.  His  mother  was  Anna  Neal,  the 
daughter  of  an  Irishman,  a  bookseller  and  pub 
lisher  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  who  had  married  Bar 
bara  Real,  a  German  Quakeress,  of  Germantown, 
Pa.  In  1841,  the  Rev.  Richard  F.  Cleveland 
moved  to  Fayetteville,  Onondaga  County,  N.  Y. 
The  family  lived  there  nine  years  and  then 
removed  to  Clinton,  Oneida  County;  and  in  1853 
to  Holland  Patent,  a  small  village  fifteen  miles 
north  of  Utica.  At  this  time  Richard  Cleveland 
was  described  as  a  man  of  liberal  culture,  with 
a  fine  voice  and  considerable  talents.  Three 
weeks  after  he  began  his  ministry  at  Holland 
Patent  he  died,  leaving  a  widow  and  nine  children, 
of  whom  Grover  was  the  third. 

The  mother  upon  whom  this  sudden  responsi 
bility  had  fallen  was  a  woman  of  dignified  appear 
ance,  with  a  kindly  face  and  unusual  strength  of 

21 


22  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

character.  She  combined  the  traits  of  her  Irish  and 
German  ancestors.  She  lived  to  rear  and  educate 
her  large  family  and  died  in  April,  1882.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Cleveland  are  buried  in  the  cemetery  at 
Holland  Patent.  Their  children  have  erected  a 
monument  to  mark  their  graves  It  bears  the 
following  inscriptions: 

Rev.  R.  F.  CLEVELAND, 

Pastor  at 

Holland  Patent, 

Died  Oct.  i,  1853 

Aged  49  years. 


ANNA  NEAL, 

Wife  of 

R.  F.  Cleveland, 
Died  July  10,  1882, 

Aged  78  years. 
Her  children  arise  up 
And  call  her  blessed. 

Grover  had  received  such  teaching  as  the 
country  schools  could  furnish.  But  his  father's 
narrow  means  compelled  him  to  earn  his  living  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  when  he  was  fourteen  years 
of  age  he  became  a  clerk  in  a  country  store  at 
Fayetteville.  His  salary  the  first  year  was  fifty 
dollars,  and  he  was  to  have  one  hundred  dollars 
the  second  year.  The  removal  of  the  family  to 
Clinton  gave  Grover  an  opportunity  to  attend  the 
academy  there,  and  he  left  Fayetteville  before  the 
end  of  the  second  year.  At  Clinton  he  pursued 
the  usual  preparatory  studies,  intending  to  enter 


PARENTAGE    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  23 

Hamilton  College.  But  his  father's  death  shut 
him  out  of  college  and  compelled  him  to  begin  the 
struggle  of  life.  He  was  then  seventeen  years 
old. 

His  elder  brother  William  had  found  employ 
ment  as  a  teacher  in  the  New  York  Institution  for 
the  Blind,  which  is  situated  on  Ninth  Avenue 
between  Thirty-third  and  Thirty-fourth  streets. 
In  October,  1853,  William  was  appointed  princi 
pal  in  the  male  department,  and  about  the  same 
time  Grover  was  appointed  his  assistant.  The 
pupils  were  taught  orally,  there  being  at  that  time 
few  text-books  which  could  be  read  by  the  sense 
of  touch.  Grover  remained  at  the  institution  a 
little  more  than  a  year.  He  passed  the  winter 
of  1854-5  at  his  mother's  house  in  Holland  Patent. 
This  was  the  last  of  his  home  life.  A  neighbor, 
the  late  Ingham  Townsend,  who  had  become 
interested  in  the  youth,  proposed  to  him  that  he 
should  enter  college  with  a  view  of  making  the 
ministry  his  profession,  but  the  young  man's  mind 
was  already  fixed  upon  the  law,  and  declining  his 
friend's  offer,  he  asked  him  for  a  loan  of  twenty- 
five  dollars,  to  carry  him  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  where 
he  hoped  for  employment  in  a  lawyer's  office. 
On  his  way  west  he  stopped  in  Buffalo  to  visit  his 
uncle,  Lewis  F.  Allen.  Mr.  Allen,  who  is  still 
living  at  an  advanced  age,  was  one  of  the  most 
influential  citizens  of  Buffalo.  He  was  the  owner 
of  a  large  farm  on  Grand  Island,  in  the  Niagara 


24  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

river,  where  he  had  a  herd  of  short-horn  cattle, 
and  lived  at  Black  Rock,  formerly  a  separate 
town,  but  which  had  been  lately  annexed  to 
Buffalo.  Mr.  Allen's  house  is  pleasantly  situated 
on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  in  the  midst  of  con 
siderable  grounds.  It  is  an  ample  old-fashioned 
brick  building,  and  was  built  by  General  Peter  B. 
Porter,  who  lived  there  for  many  years.  A  broad 
hall  runs  from  the  front  door  to  the  western 
piazza,  which  commands  a  wide  view  of  the 
Niagara  and  the  Canadian  shore.  A  mile  or  two 
to  the  north-west  are  the  ruins  of  Fort  Erie, 
the  scene  of  desperate  fighting  during  the  War  of 
1812,  in  which  General  Porter  had  been  greatly 
distinguished.  At  this  point  the  river  is  an  inter 
esting  sight.  It  sweeps  by  with  a  current  of 
between  six  and  seven  miles  an  hour  and  its  broad 
green  surface  is  flecked  with  foam  and  broken  by 
countless  eddies.  It  is  not  difficult  for  one  who 
looks  upon  the  tumultuous  river  and  listens  to  its 
deep  voice  to  imagine  that  it  feels  some  premoni 
tion  of  the  agony  which  awaits  it  below.  Grover 
was  no  Stranger  to  his  uncle's  hospitable  roof. 
He  had  made  frequent  visits  there  during  his 
boyhood.  He  told  Mr.  Allen  of  his  intention  to 
go  to  Cleveland  and  study  law.  But  his  uncle 
strongly  advised  him  to  remain  in  Buffalo.  The 
young  man  had  no  acquaintances  in  Cleveland, 
while  Mr.  Allen  knew  all  the  principal  people  in 
Buffalo  and  held  close  and  friendly  relations  with 


PARENTAGE    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  25 

them.  Mr.  Allen  had,  not  long  before,  begun  the 
compilation  of  the  "  Short-horn  Herd  Book,"  and 
he  proposed  that  Grover  should  assist  him,  offering 
him  compensation  and  a  comfortable  home.  In 
the  autumn,  on  Mr.  Allen's  application,  Grover 
entered  the  law  office  of  Henry  W.  Rogers  and 
Denis  Bowen,  who.  under  the  firm  name  of  Rogers 

o 

&  Bowen,  did  a  large  business  at  the  bar  of 
Erie  County.  Thus  began  Grover  Cleveland's 
life  in  Buffalo. 

It  may  be  well  enough  to  consider  his  surround 
ings.  Buffalo  was  then  a  city  with  about  one 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  It  was  a  com 
mercial  and  manufacturing  community,  and  held 
in  its  control  the  lake  commerce,  then  growing 
into  great  dimensions.  There  were  many  notable 
men  among  its  citizens.  Mr.  Fillmore  had  two 
years  before  left  the  Presidency  and  returned  to 
live  there.  His  neighbor,  Nathan  K.  Hall,  who 
had  served  in  his  cabinet  as  Postmaster-General, 
was  United  States  Judge  of  the  Northern  District 
of  New  York.  Solomon  G.  Haven,  a  lawyer  of 
remarkable  talent,  then  a  member  of  Congress, 
was  the  leader  of  the  bar.  Retired  from  his  pro 
fession  and  from  politics  was  Albert  H.  Tracy, 
who  may  be  described  as  the  most  interesting 
and  distinguished  figure  in  Buffalo  at  that  time. 
He  had  been  chosen  to  Congress  before  he  was 
old  enough  to  take  his  seat,  and  had  served  in 
the  House  of  Representatives  during  the  admin- 


26  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

istrations  of  Monroe  and  John  Quincy  Adams  ; 
he  had  been  for  eight  years  in  the  State  Senate  ; 
and  in  the  Court  of  Errors  he  had  won  a  judicial 
reputation,  hardly  inferior  to  any  in  the  history  of 
the  State.  He  had  acted  both  with  the  Whig  and 
the  Democratic  parties.  But  it  was  his  misfortune 
to  be  out  of  relation,  in  both  instances,  with  the 
leader  of  his  parties.  He  despised  Jackson,  and 
disliked  Clay.  He  had  assisted  Seward,  Weed, 
and  Fillmore  to  create  the  Whig  party,  and  left  it 
in  1840,  in  the  hour  of  its  triumph.  Mr.  Webster 
tried  to  persuade  him  into  Tyler's  cabinet  with 
the  offer  of  the  Treasury  Department,  but  he 
declined,  preferring,  doubtless,  to  retain  his  Dem 
ocratic  associations  which  the  acceptance  of  Mr. 
Webster's  offer  would  have  broken.  Mr.  Tracy 
never  held  office  afterwards.  He  devoted  so 
much  of  his  time  as  was  necessary  to  the  care  of 
his  estate,  but  gave  himself  chiefly  to  reading  and 
the  society  of  those  who  interested  him.  Mr. 
Tracy  exercised  a  great  influence  over  all  young 
men  who  came  within  his  reach,  and  it  is  impos 
sible  to  speak  of  Buffalo  at  that  time  without 
recalling  his  gracious  presence,  his  kindly  counsels 
and  his  delightful  and  instructive  conversation. 
Mr.  Allen  was  one  of  Mr.  Tracy's  intimate 
friends  and  the  nephew  was  soon  taken  to  the 
Tracy  house. 

The  gentlemen  who  made  the  firm  of  Rogers 
&  Bowen  were  both  notable  men.     Henry  W. 


PARENTAGE    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  27 

Rogers  was  a  large  man  with  a  somewhat  loud 
but  hearty  manner.  He  had  at  command  a  great 
store  of  anecdote,  and  without  being  witty  he 
easily  said  smart  things,  and  still  more  easily 
bitter  ones.  Mr.  Rogers  was  the  advocate  of  the 
firm,  and  was  a  strong  jury  lawyer. 

Denis  Bowen  was  a  very  different  person.  He 
was  quiet  and  unobtrusive,  never  went  into  court, 
nor- ever  sought  publicity.  He  was  a  master  of 
detail,  an  excellent  business  lawyer,  with  a  calm 
dispassionate  judgment  to  which  his  clients 
trusted  implicitly.  Beneath  a  somewhat  cold 
manner  wras  hidden  a  most  gentle  disposition,  and 
Denis  Bowen  was  not  only  greatly  respected,  but 
greatly  loved  by  those  among  whom  he  lived. 

At  that  time  upon  the  bench  of  the  Superior 
Court  were  Isaac  A.  Verplanck,  Joseph  G.  Hasten 
and  George  W.  Clinton.  The  latter  of  these  is, 
happily,  still  living,  and  I  will,  therefore,  not  speak 
of  him.  Judge  Verplanck  had  a  vigorous  and 
thoroughly  impartial  mind,  and  a  huge  unwieldy 
body.  No  one  could  ever  find  how  much  he 
weighed.  He  once  made  a  journey  to  the  plains 
in  the  stage-coach  days,  with  Mr.  Fargo  and  a 
party  of  gentlemen.  It  was  arranged  that  the 
coach  should  be  driven  on  to  the  scales  at  the  next 
station  and  weighed,  passengers  and  all,  and  then 
Verplanck's  weight  was  to  be  got  by  deducting 
the  weight  of  the  coach  and  the  other  passengers. 
But  no  sooner  did  the  driver  pull  up  than  the 


28  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

Judge,  who  was  as  quick  of  mind  as  slow  of  body, 
saw  what  his  friends  were  at,  and  jumped  from 
the  coach  before  its  weight  could  be  taken.  Judge 
Verplanck  was  a  good  lawyer  and  an  excellent 
judge.  As  a  nisi  priiis  judge  he  could  not  be 
excelled.  His  dislike  of  work  made  him  impa 
tient  of  delay,  and  eager  to  get  through.  Busi 
ness  before  him  was  done  rapidly.  But  it  was  in 
criminal  cases  that  his  generous  heart  showed 
itself.  There  was  little  danger  that  injustice 
would  be  done  in  his  court  to  any  criminal,  how 
ever  wretched,  friendless,  or  guilty.  Once  he 
sent  for  a  young  lawyer  and  asked  him  to  defend  a 
man  charged  with  murder.  The  youthful  advocate 
pleaded  his  inexperience  and  dread  of  the  respon 
sibility.  "Have  no  fear,"  said  the  Judge;  "I 
will  see  to  it  that  your  client  does  not  suffer." 
In  private  Judge  Verplanck  was  the  pleasantest 
of  companions.  He  was  fond  of  food,  of  wine 
and  good  company.  There  was  no  bitterness  in 
his  temper,  but  always  a  genial  sunshine  which 
made  him  welcome  everywhere. 

Joseph  G.  Mastin  was  by  far  the  most  learned 
lawyer  in  Buffalo.  Those  who  knew  him  and 
others  well  enough  to  judge,  thought  there  was 
no  better  lawyer  anywhere.  Like  Verplanck,  he 
had  a  great  social  charm,  and  was  a  prominent 
figure  in  a  society  full  of  able  and  interesting 
men. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Haven,  which  took  place 


PARENTAGE    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  29 

in  1 86 1,  John  Garison  came  to  be  the  leader  of 
the  Buffalo  bar.  He  had  a  clear  and  vigorous 
intellect  and  untiring  industry.  He  had  been 
carefully  educated  and  thoroughly  trained  for  his 
profession.  No  one  could  equal  him  in  the  care 
with  which  his  causes  were  prepared,  nor  in  the 
clearness  with  which,  brushing  aside  all  extrane 
ous  matter,  he  presented  the  essential  points  of 
his  argument.  He  had  no  eloquence,  but  his 
lucidity  and  conciseness,  and  his  instinct  for  the 
strong  points  of  a  case,  made  him  a  very  success 
ful  advocate.  He  served  with  distinction  in  Con 
gress  and  in  the  State  Senate,  and  his  sudden 
death,  in  1874,  brought  to  a  close  a  career  which 
was  full  of  promise. 

The  principal  person  in  Buffalo  society  at  that 
time  was  Dr.  Walter  Gary,  a  gentleman  widely 
known  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  The  doc 
tor  had  retired  from  his  profession  by  reason  of 
delicate  health.  A  large  estate  and  a  ready  dis 
position  to  new  enterprises,  gave  him  abundant 
occupation.  Travel  and  society  were  his  chief 
pleasures,  and  the  influence  of  his  example  did 
much  to  give  to  Buffalo  its  reputation  for  hospi 
tality. 

Albert  Haller  Tracy  was  the  oldest  son  of 
Albert  H.  Tracy,  mentioned  above.  He  and 
Grover  Cleveland  were  about  the  same  age. 
After  his  father's  death,  by  which  event  he  came 
into  a  large  fortune,  Tracy  retired  from  the  pro- 


3O  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

fession  in  which  he  might  easily  have  won  distinc 
tion.  He  had  a  mind  remarkable  for  judgment 
and  moderation.  His  knowledge  of  men  and 
affairs  was  extensive,  his  reading  considerable, 
and  his  memory  most  retentive. 

I  have  mentioned  the  most  prominent  men  in 
the  city  in  which  Grover  Cleveland  had  made  his 
home,  where  his  character  was  to  be  formed,  his 
career  begun,  and  where  he  was  to  find  an 
entrance,  if  he  ever  did,  into  the  path  which 
should  lead  him  to  fame  and  greatness.  I  have, 
however,  spoken  only  of  the  dead.  There  are 
many  living  persons  who  should  be  mentioned,  if 
it  were  intended  to  make  a  complete  description 
of  the  associations  in  which  Cleveland  found  him 
self;  but  I  am  not  permitted  to  speak  of  the  living 
with  the  freedom  which  would  be  necessary. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  before  he  was  twenty 
years  old,  Cleveland  had  begun  the  study  of  his 
profession  under  most  favorable  circumstances. 
He  was  in  the  family  of  an  uncle  who  lived  com 
fortably  and  well.  He  was  thrown  into  associa 
tion  with  men  of  talent  and  distinction.  He  was 
in  the  employ  of  a  firm  of  able  and  successful 
lawyers,  who  were  entrusted  with  very  important 
affairs. 

Thenceforth  there  was  no  element  of  hardship 
in  Cleveland's  life.  He  probably  never  knew 
what  want  was.  He  had  all  that  it  was  possible 
to  have.  He  had  opportunity  as  full  and  com- 


PARENTAGE    AND    EARLY    LIFE.  31 

plete  as  if  he  had  been  born  to  wealth.  Indeed, 
he  had,  in  the  necessity  for  exertion,  a  stimulant 
and  a  training  which  wealth  could  not  have  given 
him.  The  transplanted  tree  had  found  a  con 
genial  soil. 

Grover  Cleveland  remained  with  Rogers  & 
Bowen,  as  student  and  clerk,  until  1863.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  war,  the  question  had  come  to 
him  as  to  the  duty  he  owed  his  country.  While 
teaching  in  New  York,  and  while  studying  in 
Buffalo,  he  had  always  sent  whatever  money  he 
could  spare  to  his  mother.  He  was  then  earning 
enough  to  make  his  contributions  of  importance 
to  the  family.  It  was  therefore  decided  that  the 
two  younger  brothers  should  go  to  the  army,  and 
that  the  bread  winner  should  stay  and  work  for 
the  support  of  his  mother  and  sisters. 


CHAPTER  II. 

PROFESSIONAL    LIFE. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND  had  been  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1859,  and  in  January,  1863,  he  was 
appointed  Assistant  District  Attorney  for  the 
County  of  Erie.  This  position  brought  young 
Cleveland  into  court,  and  accustomed  him  to  the 
trial  of  causes.  At  that  time  the  District  Attorney 
had  but  one  assistant,  and  upon  him  fell  a  large 
share  of  the  work  of  the  office.  His  industry 
and  evenness  of  temper  fitted  him,  peculiarly, 
for  his  duties,  and  he  soon  held  a  more  important 
relation  to  the  public  business  than  it  had  been 
usual  for  an  Assistant  District  Attorney  to  have. 
This  was,  perhaps,  due,  in  part,  to  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Torrance,  the  District  Attorney,  did  not  live 
in  the  city,  but  in  a  village  twenty-five  miles  dis 
tant.  He  therefore  naturally  left  much  to  the 
capable  and  industrious  assistant,  who  was  con 
stantly  at  hand.  The  three  years  in  the  District 
Attorney's  office  were  of  great  value  to  Cleve 
land.  They  gave  him  confidence  in  himself, 
accustomed  him  to  the  trial  of  causes  and  to 
addressing  juries  ;  enabled  him  to  make  a  wide 
acquaintance  among  the  people  in  the  country 
32 


PROFESSIONAL    LIFE.  33 

towns,  as  well  as  in  the  city,  and  attracted  to  him 
the  attention  of  clients  and  the  bar. 

The  Assistant  District  Attorneyship  also 
brought  him  into  politics.  From  the  time  of  his 
acceptance  of  that  office,  he  was  known  as  a 
Democratic  politician.  Mr.  Dean  Richmond,  a 
man  of  singular  ability  and  force  of  character, 
was  then  the  principal  Democrat  in  Western  New 
York,  and  governed  local  affairs  with  a  firm  hand. 
At  the  expiration  of  Mr.  Torrance's  term,  Cleve 
land  received  the  Democratic  nomination  for 
District  Attorney.  His  nomination  to  so  import 
ant  an  office,  when  he  was  only  twenty-nine  years 
old,  is  the  strongest  evidence  that  can  be  given 
of  the  standing  he  had  obtained  in  the  community 
and  in  his  profession.  His  opponent  was  Lyman 
K.  Bass,  a  young  Republican  lawyer,  afterwards 
a  member  of  Congress,  and  who  has  been  pre 
vented  by  ill-health  from  completely  fulfilling  the 
promise  of  his  youth.  After  a  heated  canvass, 
Cleveland  was  beaten,  a  result  not  to  be  wondered 
at,  for  the  county  then  usually  went  Republican. 
The  writer  of  this  sketch  well  remembers  meeting 
Cleveland  the  day  after  the  election,  and  recalls 
the  perfect  coolness  and  good-humor  with  which 
he  took  his  defeat. 

He  at  once  set  about  the  general  practice  of 
his  profession,  and  soon  formed  a  law-partnership 
with  the  late  Isaac  V.  Vanderpool.  In  1867,  the 
writer  having  been  appointed  by  President  John.-* 


34  LIFE   OF    GROVER   CLEVELAND. 

son,  United  States  Attorney  for  the  Northern 
District  of  New  York,  offered  Cleveland  an 
appointment  as  Assistant  District  Attorney.  This 
offer  he  declined,  for  the  reason  that  the  duties  of 
the  office  would  require  frequent  absence  from 
the  city,  and  he  preferred  to  attend  to  his  rapidly- 
growing  clientage.  He  soon  after  became  asso 
ciated  with  the  late  A.  P.  Lanning  and  Oscar 
Fulsom,  a  young  companion  of  Cleveland,  who 
had  taken  the  Assistant  Attorneyship  which  the 
former  had  declined.  The  name  of  the  new  firm 
was  Lanning,  Cleveland  &  Fulsom. 

The  writer  remembers  that  one  day,  early  in 
the  autumn  of  1870,  Cleveland  came  into  his 
office,  and  said  he  wanted  his  opinion  upon  a 
matter  personal  to  himself.  He  said  that  his 
political  friends  had  offered  him  the  nomination 
for  sheriff  of  the  county.  "Now,"  said  he,  "I 
know  that  it  is  not  usual  for  lawyers  to  be  sheriffs. 
I  do  not  remember  of  any  lawyer  being  a  sheriff. 
But,  there  are  some  reasons  why  I  should  consider 
the  matter  carefully.  I  have  been  compelled  to 
earn  my  living  since  I  was  seventeen.  I  have 
never  had  time  for  reading,  nor  for  thorough  pro 
fessional  study.  The  sheriff's  office  would  take 
me  out  of  practice,  but  it  would  keep  me  about 
the  courts,  and  in  professional  relations.  It  would 
.give  me  considerable  leisure,  which  I  could  devote 
to  self-improvement.  Besides,  it  would  enable 
me  to  save  a  modest  competency,  and  give  me 


PROFESSIONAL    LIFE.  35 

the  pecuniary  independence  which  otherwise  I 
may  never  have.  I  have  come  for  your  advice. 
What  would  you  do  in  my  place?"  I  told  him 
that  if  I  were  in  his  place  I  would  accept  the 
nomination.  He  received  the  same  advice  from 
other  friends.  He  took  the  nomination  and  was 
elected.  Naturally,  some  of  the  duties  of  the 
sheriff's  office  were  grievously  distasteful  to  him, 
but  he  performed  them  with  that  strong  sense  of 
duty  which  has  always  characterized  him. 

He  used  the  opportunities  of  the  position  as  he 
had  said  he  would.  He  made  a  considerable 
saving,  and  he  gave  his  leisure  time  to  profes 
sional  and  other  studies.  As  soon  as  he  returned 
to  the  bar  the  effect  was  noticeable.  He  was  a 
stronger  and  a  broader  man  than  he  had  been 
before,  and  he  at  once  took  a  higher  place  than 
he  had  ever  held. 

At  the  close  of  his  term  as  sheriff,  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  his  old  antagonist,  Lyman  K. 
Bass,  and  Wilson  S.  Bissell.  Failing  health  com 
pelled  Mr.  Bass  to  remove  to  Colorado,  and  after 
wards  Mr.  George  J.  Sicard  entered  the  firm, 
which  was  known  as  Cleveland,  Bissell  &  Sicard. 
From  this  time,  1874,  until  his  election  as  Mayor, 
Cleveland  practiced  his  profession  with  constantly 
increasing  success.  He  came  to  have  great  skill 
in  trying  causes,  and  his  arguments  to  the  court  in 
bane  were  noticeable  for  lucidity  and  thorough 
ness.  Many  important  matters  were  entrusted  to 


36  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

him,  and  before  he  again  took  office  he  was 
beginning  to  receive  large  fees.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that,  had  he  remained  at  the  bar,  he 
would  have  won  as  great  a  success  as  the  theatre 
in  which  he  acted  would  permit. 

But  during  these  years  of  professional  labor, 
Cleveland  was  not  indifferent  to  politics.  Indeed, 
he  was  all  the  time  a  counsellor  of  his  party. 
After  the  death  of  Dean  Richmond,  in  1866, 
Joseph  Warren,  the  editor  of  the  Courier,  became 
the  head  of  the  Democratic  organization  in  Buf 
falo.  He  was  a  native  of  Vermont,  who  had, 
when  a  very  young  man,  gone  to  Albany,  and 
from  there  to  Buffalo.  He  found  employment  in 
the  editorial  office  of  the  Courier,  while  the  late 
William  A.  Seaver  was  its  proprietor  and  editor. 
Upon  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Seaver,  he  succeeded 
to  the  control  of  the  paper,  and  was  one  of  its  prin 
cipal  owners.  Mr.  Warren  directed  party  affairs 
with  great  judgment  and  self-control.  He  never 
aspired  to  office  himself,  was  very  appreciative  of 
the  talents  of  others,  and  always  ready  to  aid  in 
advancing  the  fortunes  of  his  friends.  He  was, 
besides,  a  promoter  of  all  the  generous  enter 
prises  which  promised  to  add  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  city.  All  the  public  institutions  were  aided  by 
his  wise  counsel  and  unselfish  labors.  Mr.  War 
ren  was  a  warm  friend  of  Cleveland's,  and  was 
one  of  the  first  to  recognise  his  talents  and  predict 
his  success.  He  died  in  1876,  and  thenceforward 


PROFESSIONAL    LIFE.  37 

Cleveland  was  drawn  into  more  responsible  politi 
cal  relations.  He  was  not  willing  to  take  the  local 
leadership,  which  he  might  easily  have  had,  for  he 
could  not  give  to  it  the  necessary  time  and  atten 
tion.  But  he  served  on  party  committees,  and 
there  was  little  done  in  party  matters  in  Buffalo 
as  to  which  his  advice  was  not  taken.  When  he 
went  to  Albany,  many  thought  him  ignorant  of 
political  methods.  But  -they  were  greatly  mis 
taken.  Few  men  know  practical  politics  better 
than  he  does. 

During  all  these  years  he  had  been  a  Democrat 
of  Democrats.  Through  good  report  and  evil 
report,  he  had  stood  with  his  party.  Neither 
slavery  nor  the  war  had,  for  an  instant,  diminished 
his  allegiance  or  his  zeal. 

During  the  early  period  of  Cleveland's  Buffalo 
life  the  city  had  begun  a  new  career.  Its  wealth 
had  greatly  increased,  and  a  number  of  young 
men  with  more  education  than  their  elders  had 
become  active  in  affairs.  A  desire  for  a  higher 
civilization  began  to  show  itself.  The  Young 
Men's  Association,  which  maintained  a  small 
library  and  a  course  of  public  lectures  in  the 
winter,  had  long  been  the  principal,  and  it  may  be 
said  the  only  literary  society.  But  it  had  lan 
guished  upon  a  meagre  income.  During  this  time 
a  movement  was  set  afoot  to  secure  an  endow 
ment  for  it.  Through  the  exertion  of  several 
gentlemen,  among  whom  the  late  S.  V.  R.  Wat- 


38  LIFE    OF    GROVER   CLEVELAND. 

son  was  most  prominent,  a  fund  of  between 
eighty  and  ninety  thousand  dollars  was  raised  by 
subscription  and  the  sale  of  life-memberships.  A 
valuable  property  was  purchased  and  the  associa 
tion  provided  with  an  abundant  income.  During 
this  period  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society,  of  which 
Mr.  Fillmore  was  the  first  president,  was  formed, 
and  also  the  Buffalo  Academy  of  Fine  Arts.  Both 
of  these  institutions  excited  the  interest  of  the 
more  liberal  citizens.  It  doubtless  seemed  to 
many,  an  ambitious  undertaking  to  establish  an 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts  in  a  place  so  given  over  to 
business  as  Buffalo.  Once,  in  those  early  days, 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  went  through  the  gallery, 
which  was  then  largely  made  up  of  pictures  on 
sale  contributed  by  the  artists  of  New  York  and 
Boston,  but  which  also  contained  a  number  of 
works,  the  property  of  the  academy,  that  were 
worthy  of  attention.  Said  the  philosopher :  ' '  This 
has  begun  well  and  will  come  to  something  in  the 
course  of  the  ages."  Indeed  those  who  began  the 
work  knew  as  well  as  any  one,  how  little  could  be 
done  during  their  life-time,  but  they  thought  a 
beginning  should  be  made.  To  this  period,  also, 
belongs  the  Society  of  Natural  History,  which 
owes  its  success  chiefly  to  the  scientific  zeal  of 
George  W.  Clinton. 

Any  traveler  who,  to-day,  shall  visit  the  institu 
tions  I  have  mentioned,  and  thoroughly  examine 
their  collections,  will  be  surprised  to  find  how 


PROFESSIONAL    LIFE.  39 

much  has  been  accomplished  in  twenty-five  years. 
He  will  see  that  Buffalo  has  become  the  centre  of 
literary,  artistic  and  scientific  activities,  and  that 
forces  have  been  set  at  work  which  are  sure  to 
strengthen  with  time,  and  to  greatly  influence 
the  character  of  the  place  and  the  lives  of  its 
people. 

Grover  Cleveland  was  hardly  old  enough  to 
take  part  in  the  beginning  of  these  things.  But 
he  has  done  his  share  of  work  in  building  them 
up  to  their'present  prosperous  state. 

In  1872,  Cleveland  lost  his  younger  brothers, 
who  had  represented  the  family  in  the  army  during 
the  Civil  War.  They  were  drowned  at  sea  in  the 
burning  of  the  Steamship  Missouri  near  the  Island 
of  Abaco,  October  22d,  of  that  year.  It  is  said 
that  they  exhibited  unusual  coolness  and  courage ; 
that  they  stood  by  the  boats  when  they  were 
lowered  and  helped  the  passengers  into  them, 
doing  the  work  the  frightened  officers  should  have 
done.  But  when  the  boats  were  lowered  there 
was  no  room  for  them  and  they  went  down  with 
the  ship 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    MAYORALTY. 

FOUR  years  ago  Grover  Cleveland  was,  as  has 
been  seen,  living  quietly  in  Buffalo  and  practicing 
law.  Neither  he  nor  any  one  foresaw  the  career 
which  was  before  him,  and  upon  which  he  was 
soon  to  enter.  This  may  be  said  without  dis 
paragement,  for  if  any  intelligent  resident  of 
Buffalo  had  been  asked  to  name  a  citizen  who  was 
by  nature  fit  to  be  Governor  and  President,  he 
would  have  been  more  likely  to  mention  Cleveland 
than  any  other  man  in  the  place. 

The  defeat  of  1880  had  not  seriously  impaired 
Democratic  strength  in  Buffalo,  and  when  the 
election  of  1881  drew  near,  there  was  a  strong 
feeling  that  a  proper  person  could  be  elected  to 
the  Mayoralty  if  the  Democrats  should  nominate 
him.  City  affairs  were  in  an  unsatisfactory  state, 
and  there  was  a  general  feeling  in  favor  of  munici 
pal  reform.  The  party  leaders  urged  Cleveland 
to  take  the  nomination.  At  first  he  refused,  but 
it  was  pressed  upon  him  with  such  urgency,  and 
with  so  strong  an  appeal  to  his  sense  of  duty,  that 
he  at  last  consented.  His  candidacy  led  to  a 
spirited  canvass,  and  to  his  election  by  a  majority 
40 


THE    MAYORALTY.  41 

of  3500,  the  largest  ever  known  in  the  history  of 
the  city. 

He  took  office  as  Mayor  on  the  ist  day  of  Jan 
uary,  1882.  He  at  once  called  to  his  side,  as  his 
secretary,  Mr.  Harmon  S.  Cutting,  a  devoted  friend, 
and  a  lawyer  of  excellent  standing  and  great  expe 
rience,  who  was  unrivalled  for  his  knowledge  of 
municipal  law.  Mr.  Cleveland  entered  upon  his 
office  with  a  strong  feeling  that  the  affairs  of 
the  municipality  should,  so  far  as  possible,  be 
kept  apart  from  party  politics.  He  could  not 
see  why  the  paving,  lighting  and  cleaning  of 
streets,  should  depend  upon  the  exigencies  of 
parties  which  had  been  formed  upon  lines  of  state 
or  national  policy.  His  first  resolve  was  to  do 
what  he  thought  the  interests  of  the  city  required, 
without  reference  to  the  effect  his  action  would 
have  upon  either  the  Democratic  or  the  Republi 
can  party.  In  his  speech  accepting  the  nomination 
for  Mayor,  he  said:  "There  is,  or  there  should 
be,  no  reason  why  the  affairs  of  our  city  should 
not  be  managed  with  the  same  care  and  the  same 
economy  as  private  interests  ;  and  when  we  con 
sider  that  public  officials  are  the  trustees  of  the 
people  and  hold  their  places  and  exercise  their 
powers  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  there  should 
be  no  higher  inducement  to  a  faithful  and  honest 
discharge  of  public  duty."  In  his  inaugural  mes 
sage,  he  used  the  following  language  : 

"We  hold  the   money  of   the  people  in   our 


42  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

hands,  to  be  used  for  their  purposes  and  to  fur 
ther  their  interests  as  members  of  the  munici 
pality,  and  it  is  quite  apparent  that,  when  any  part 
of  the  funds  which  the  taxpayers  have  thus 
intrusted  to  us  are  diverted  to  other  purposes,  or 
when,  by  design  or  neglect,  we  allow  a  greater 
sum  to  be  applied  to  any  municipal  purpose  than 
is  necessary,  we  have,  to  that  extent,  violated  our 
duty.  There  surely  is  no  difference  in  his  duties 
and  obligations,  whether  a  person  is  intrusted 
with  the  money  of  one  man  or  many." 

These  two  declarations  laid  down  the  rule  by 
which  he  meant  to  be  guided.  A  trust  had  been 
placed  in  his  hands,  and  as  a  trust  he  intended  to 
administer  his  office.  The  public  moneys  were  to 
be  dealt  with  as  private  moneys  are  dealt  with,  by 
a  competent  and  honest  trustee.  This  rule  he  at 
once  rigidly  applied  to  municipal  affairs.  He  applied 
it,  in  a  striking  manner,  to  a  resolution  which  was 
passed  by  the  city  council  appropriating  five  hun 
dred  dollars  to  defray  the  expenses  attending  a 
proper  observance  of  Decoration  Day.  It  was 
proposed,  that  this  sum  of  money  should  be  paid 
out  of  what  was  known  as  the  Fourth  of  July  fund, 
and  therefore  the  resolution  was  obnoxious  to  a 
provision  in  the  charter  of  the  city,  which  made 
it  a  misdemeanor  to  appropriate  money  raised  for 
one  purpose  to  any  other  object.  Upon  this 
ground  he  refused  to  approve  the  resolution. 
But  he  also  placed  his  refusal  upon  broader 


THE    MAYORALTY.  43 

grounds.  In  his  veto  message,  among  other 
things,  he  said : 

"I  deem  the  object  of  this  appropriation  a  most 
worthy  one.  The  efforts  of  our  veteran  soldiers 
to  keep  alive  the  memory  of  their  fallen  comrades 
certainly  deserves  the  aid  and  encouragement  of 
their  fellow-citizens.  We  should  all,  I  think,  feel 
it  a  duty  and  a  privilege  to  contribute  to  the  funds 
necessary  to  carry  out  such  a  purpose.  And  I 
should  be  much  disappointed  if  an  appeal  to  our 
citizens  for  voluntary  subscriptions  for  this  patri 
otic  object  should  be  in  vain. 

"  But  the  money  so  contributed  should  be  a  free 
gift  of  the  citizens  and  taxpayers,  and  should  not 
be  extorted  from  them  by  taxation.  This  is  so, 
because  the  purpose  for  which  this  money  is  asked 
does  not  involve  their  protection  or  interest  as 
members  of  the  community,  and  it  may  or  may 
not  be  approved  by  them. 

"The  people  are  forced  to  pay  taxes  into  the 
city  treasury  only  upon  the  theory  that  such 
money  shall  be  expended  for  public  purposes,  or 
purposes  in  which  they  all  have  a  direct  and  practi 
cal  interest. 

"  The  logic  of  this  position  leads  directly  to  the 
conclusion  that,  if  the  people  are  forced  to  pay 
their  money  into  the  public  fund  and  it  is  spent  by 
their  servants  and  agents  for  purposes  in  which  the 
people  as  taxpayers  have  no  interest,  the  exaction 
of  such  taxes  from  them  is  oppressive  and  unjust. 


44  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

"I  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  idea  that  this  city 
government,  in  its  relation  to  the  taxpayers,  is  a 
business  establishment,  and  that  it  is  put  in  our 
hands  to  be  conducted  on  business  principles. 

"  This  theory  does  not  admit  of  our  donating 
the  public  funds  in  the  manner  contemplated  by 
the  action  of  your  honorable  body. 

"I  deem  it  my  duty,  therefore,  to  return  both 
of  the  resolutions  herein  referred  to  without  my 
approval." 

This  act  attracted  the  attention  of  the  whole 
community.  The  leading  newspapers,  without  dis 
tinction  of  party,  gave  it  their  approval.  But  in 
order  that  the  object  for  which  the  money  had 
been  voted  should  be  accomplished,  a  subscription 
was  at  once  set  afoot,  which  the  Mayor  headed  by 
a  liberal  contribution.  He  soon  had  an  opportu 
nity  to  apply  his  principles  to  a  more  important 
matter.  The  City  Council  had  awarded  the  con 
tract  for  cleaning  the  streets  for  five  years  for  the 
sum  of  four  hundred  and  twenty-two  thousand, 
five  hundred  dollars.  Another  party  had  offered 
to  do  the  work  for  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
less,  and  the  person  to  whom  the  contract  had 
been  given  had  himself,  a  few  weeks  before,  pro 
posed  to  perform  the  same  service  for  fifty  thou 
sand  less.  This  scandalous  transaction  was  dealt 
with  by  the  Mayor  with  a  commendable  directness 
and  frankness  ;  he  returned  the  resolution  with  a 
message,  which  contained  the  following  language  : 


THE    MAYORALTY.  45 

"This  is  a  time  for  plain  speech,  and  my  objec 
tion  to  the  action  of  your  honorable  body  now 
under  consideration  shall  be  plainly  stated.  I 
withhold  my  assent  from  the  same,  because  I  regard 
it  as  the  culmination  of  a  most  barefaced,  impudent 
and  shameless  scheme  to  betray  the  interests  of 
the  people,  and  to  worse  than  squander  the  public 
money. 

"  I  will  not  be  misunderstood  in  this  matter. 
There  are  those  whose  votes  were  given  for  this 
resolution  whom  I  cannot  and  will  not  suspect  of 
a  willful  neglect  of  the  interests  they  are  sworn  to 
protect ;  but  it  has  been  fully  demonstrated  that 
there  are  influences,  both  in  and  about  your  hon 
orable  body,  which  it  behooves  every  honest  man 
to  watch  and  avoid  with  the  greatest  care. 

"When  cool  judgment  rules  the  hour,  the  people 
will,  I  hope  and  believe,  have  no  reason  to  com 
plain  of  the  action  of  your  honorable  body.  But 
clumsy  appeals  to  prejudice  or  passion,  insinua 
tions,  with  a  kind  of  low,  cheap  cunning,  as  to  the 
motives  and  purposes  of  others,  and  the  mock 
heroism  of  brazen  effrontery  which  openly  declares 
that  a  wholesome  public  sentiment  is  to  be  set  at 
naught,  sometimes  deceives  and  leads  honest  men 
to  aid  in  the  consummation  of  schemes,  which,  if 
exposed,  they  would  look  upon  with  abhorrence. 

"If  the  scandal  in  connection  with  this  street 
cleaning  contract,  which  has  so  aroused  our  citi 
zens,  shall  cause  them  to  select  and  watch  with 


46  LIFE   OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

more  care  those  to  whom  they  intrust  their  inter 
ests,  and  if  it  serves  to  make  all  of  us  who  are 
charged  with  official  duties  more  careful  in  their 
performance,  it  will  not  be  an  unmitigated  evil. 

"  We  are  fast  gaining  positions  in  the  grades  of 
public  stewardship.  There  is  no  middle  ground. 
Those  who  are  not  ior  the  people,  either  in  or  out 
of  your  honorable  body,  are  against  them,  and 
should  be  treated  accordingly." 

This  bold  and  honorable  act  attracted  wide  at 
tention,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  a  reputation 
which  soon  extended  throughout  the  State. 

Mr.  Cleveland  continued  to  apply  to  the  affairs 
of  Buffalo  the  same  inflexible  rule  of  administering 
his  office  as  though  it  were  a  trust.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  result  was  a  success  greater 
than  has  ever  been  accomplished  upon  so  narrow 
a  political  field  as  a  single  municipality.  At  home, 
the  favor  which  he  obtained  was  quite  universal. 
All  party  differences  disappeared  before  a  public 
officer  who  performed  his  duties  with  so  complete 
a  reference  to  the  general  welfare. 

During  the  short  term  of  his  mayoralty  there 
were  several  occasions  which  compelled  him  to 
speak  upon  important  topics.  But  whatever  sub 
ject  he  dealt  with  was  presented  in  the  light  of 
the  principle  he  had  from  the  first  declared  should 
guide  his  conduct.  In  speaking  at  the  semi-cen 
tennial  celebration  of  the  foundation  of  the  city, 
July  3d,  1882,  he  said: 


THE    MAYORALTY.  47 

"  We  boast  of  our  citizenship  to-night.  But 
this  citizenship  brings  with  it  duties  not  unlike  those 
we  owe  our  neighbor  and  our  God.  There  is  no 
better  time  than  this  for  self-examination.  He 
who  deems  himself  too  pure  and  holy  to  take  part 
in  the  affairs  of  his  city,  will  meet  the  fact  that 
better  men  than  he  have  thought  it  their  duty  to 
do  so.  He  who  cannot  spare  a  moment  in  his 
greed  and  selfishness  to  devote  to  public  con 
cerns,  will,  perhaps,  find  a  well-  grounded  fear 
that  he  may  become  the  prey  of  public  plun 
derers  ;  and  he  who  indolently  cares  not  who 
administers  the  government  of  his  city,  will  find 
that  he  is  living  falsely,  and  in  the  neglect  of  his 
highest  duty." 

When  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  building,  on  the  7th  of 
September,  1882,  he  used  the  following  language  : 
"  We  all  hope  and  expect  that  our  city  has 
entered  upon  a  course  of  unprecedented  pros 
perity  and  growth.  But  to  my  mind  not  all 
the  signs  about  us  point  more  surely  to  real  great 
ness  than  the  event  which  we  here  celebrate. 
Good  and  pure  government  lies  at  the  foundation 
of  the  wealth  and  progress  of  every  community.  As 
the  chief  executive  of  this  proud  city,  I  congratu 
late  all  my  fellow-citizens  that  to-day  we  lay  the 
foundation  stone  of  an  edifice  which  shall  be  a 
beautiful  ornament,  and,  what  is  more  important, 
shall  enclose  within  its  walls  such  earnest  Christian 


48  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

endeavors  as  must  make  easier  all  our  efforts  to 
administer  safely  and  honestly  a  good  municipal 
government." 

These  utterances  disclose  the  high  moral  pur 
pose  in  which  his  whole  nature  seemed  to  be 

absorbed,  and  which  he  was,  in  a  measure,   cc> 

i 

pelled  to  profess  upon  every  occasion  when  he 

was  required  to  address  the  people.  Perhaps 
there  was  no  occasion  on  which  he  made  so  clear 
a  revelation  of  himself  and  his  character  as  by  the 
address  which  he  delivered  on  the  9th  of  April, 
1882,  when  taking  the  chair  at  a  mass  meeting  to 
protest  against  the  treatment  of  American  citizens 
imprisoned  abroad.  This  short  speech  is  worthy 
of  the  careful  attention  of  all  those  who  wish  to 
understand  his  mind  and  character: 

"  FELLOW  CITIZENS. — This  is  the  formal  mode 
of  address  on  occasions  -of  this  kind,  but  I  think 
we  seldom  realize  fully  its  meaning  or  how  valu 
able  a  thing  it  is  to  be  a  citizen. 

"  From  the  earliest  civilization  to  be  a  citizen 
has  been  to  be  a  free  man,  endowed  with  certain 
privileges  and  advantages,  and  entitled  to  the  full 
protection  of  the  State.  The  defense  and  protec 
tion  of  the  personal  rights  of  its  citizens  has  always 
been  the  paramount  and  most  important  duty  of 
a  free,  enlightened  government. 

"  And  perhaps  no  government  has  this  sacred 
trust  more  in  its  keeping  than  this — the  best  and 
freest  of  them  all ;  for  here  the  people  who  are  to 


THE    MAYORALTY.  49 

be  protected  are  the  source  of  those  powers  which 
they  delegate  upon  the  express  compact  that  the 
citizen  shall  be  protected.  For  this  purpose  we 
chose  those  who,  for  the  time  being,  shall  manage 
'  i  machinery  which  we  have  set  up  for  our 
defense  and  safety. 

"  And  this  protection  adheres  to  us  in  all  lands 
and  places  as  an  incident  of  citizenship.  Let  but 
the  weight  of  a  sacrilegious  hand  be  put  upon  this 
sacred  thing,  and  a  great  strong  government 
springs  to  its  feet  to  avenge  the  wrong.  Thus  it 
is  that  the  native  born  American  citizen  enjoys  his 
birthright.  But  when,  in  the  westward  march  of 
empire,  this  nation  was  founded  and  took  root, 
we  beckoned  to  the  Old  World,  and  invited  hither 
its  immigration,  and  provided  a  mode  by  which 
those  who  sought  a  home  among  us  might  become 
our  fellow  citizens.  They  came  by  thousands  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  ;  they  came  and 

Hewed  the  dark  old  woods  away, 
And  gave  the  virgin  fields  to  day ; 

they  came  with  strong  sinews  and  brawny  arms 
to  aid  in  the  growth  and  progress  of  a  new  coun 
try  ;  they  came,  and  upon  our  altars  laid  their 
fealty  and  submission  ;  they  came  to  our  temples 
of  justice,  and  under  the  solemnity  of  an  oath 
renounced  all  allegiance  to  every  other  State, 
potentate  and  sovereignty,  and  surrendered  to  us 
all  the  duty  pertaining  to  such  allegiance.  We 


5O  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

have  accepted  their  fealty,  and  invited  them  to 
surrender  the  protection  of  their  native  land. 

"And  what  should  be  given  them  in  return? 
Manifestly,  good  faith  and  every  dictate  of  honor 
demand  that  we  give  them  the  same  liberty  and 
protection  here  and  elsewhere  which  we  vouchsafe 
to  our  native-born  citizens.  And  that  this  has 
been  accorded  to  them  is  the  crowning  glory  of 
American  institutions. 

"  It  needed  not  the  statute,  which  is  now  the 
law  of  the  land,  declaring  that  all  'naturalized 
citizens  while  in  foreign  lands  are  entitled  to  and 
shall  receive  from  this  government  the  same  pro 
tection  of  person  and  property  which  is  accorded 
to  native-born  citizens,'  to  voice  the  policy  of  our 
nation. 

1  'In  all  lands  where  the  semblance  of  liberty  is 
preserved,  the  right  of  a  person  arrested  to  a 
speedy  accusation  and  trial  is,  or  ought  to  be,  a 
fundamental  law,  as  it  is  a  rule  of  civilization. 

'•/\t  any  rate,  we  hold  it  to  be  so,  and  this  is 
one  of  the  rights  which  we  undertake  to  guarantee 
to  any  native-born  or  naturalized  citizen  of  ours, 
whether  he  be  imprisoned  by  order  of  the  Czar 
of  Russia  or  under  the  pretext  of  a  law  admin 
istered  for  the  benefit  of  the  landed  aristocracy 
of  England. 

"We  do  not  claim  to  make  laws  for  other 
countries,  but  we  do  insist  that  whatever  those 
laws  may  be  they  shall,  in  the  interests  of  human 


THE    MAYORALTY.  51 

freedom  and  the  rights  of  mankind,  so  far  as  they 
involve  the  liberty  of  our  citizens,  be  speedily 
administered.  We  have  a  right  to  say,  and  do 
say,  that  mere  suspicion  without  examination  or 
trial,  is  not  sufficient  to  justify  the  long  imprison 
ment  of  a  citizen  of  America.  Other  nations 
may  permit  their  citizens  to  be  thus  imprisoned. 
Ours  will  not.  And  this  in  effect  has  been 
solemnly  declared  by  statute. 

"We  have  met  here  to-night  to  consider  this 
subject  and  to  inquire  into  the  cause  and  the 
reasons  and  the  justice  of  the  imprisonment  of 
certain  of  our  fellow-citizens  now  held  in  British 
prisons  without  the  semblance  of  a  trial  or  legal 
examination.  Our  law  declares  that  the  govern 
ment  shall  act  in  such  cases.  But  the  people  are 
the  creators  of  the  government. 

"The  undaunted  apostle  of  the  Christian  relig 
ion  imprisoned  and  persecuted,  appealing  centuries 
ago  to  the  Roman  law  and  the  rights  of  Roman 
citizenship,  boldly  demanded  :  "Is  it  lawful  for 
you  to  scourge  a  man  that  is  a  Roman  and 
uncondemned?  " 

"So,  too,  might  we  ask,  appealing  to  the  law 
of  our  land  and  the  laws  of  civilization:  'Is  it 
lawful  that  these  our  fellows  be-  imprisoned  who 
are  American  citizens  and  uncondemned  ? ' 

"I  deem  it  an  honor  to  be  called  upon  to  pre 
side  at  such  a  meeting,  and  I  thank  you  for  it. 
What  is  your  further  pleasure  ?  " 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CANVASS    FOR    GOVERNOR. 

EARLY  in  the  summer  of  1882  Mr.  Cleveland's 
friends  began  to  consider  the  propriety  of  bring 
ing  him  forward  as  a  candidate  for  Governor. 
The  first  public  announcement  of  this  intention 
was  made  in  the  columns  of  The  Daily  News, 
a  Republican  paper,  which  had  become  a  strong 
supporter  of  Mayor  Cleveland.  The  editor  sent 
letters  to  many  prominent  people  in  the  State, 
asking  their  opinion  as  to  Mr.  Cleveland's  candi 
dacy.  The  responses  were  remarkably  favorable, 
and  showed  that  the  Mayor's  course  had  attracted 
attention  in  all  parts  of  the  State.  The  public 
opinion  of  Buffalo  responded  readily  to  the  appeals 
which  were  made  by  The  News.  No  citizen 
of  Buffalo  had  ever  been  Governor.  Mr.  Fill- 
more  had  been  a  candidate  upon  the  Whig 
ticket  in  1844,  but  was  defeated  by  Silas  Wright. 
Since  that  time  no  Buffalonian  had  ever  received 
even  a  nomination  for  the  office.  Buffalo  men 
had  long  felt  that  they  were  overlooked.  Indeed, 
not  only  the  city,  but  the  whole  western  region, 
known  as  the  Eighth  Judicial  District,  had  reason 
to  think  that  it  had  not  received  its  fair  share  of 
52 


STATE   STREET   AND   CAPITOL,    ALBANY,    N.   Y. 


CANVASS    FOR    GOVERNOR.  55 

party  honors.  With  the  exception  of  Governor 
Fenton,  no  Governor  or  United  States  Senator 
had  ever  been  chosen  from  all  the  country  west 
of  the  Genesee  river.  It  was  easy  to  awaken  the 
pride  of  a  people  who  had  so  long  been  neglected. 
The  movement  in  favor  of  Cleveland  rapidly 
spread  through  all  the  western  counties.  After 
the  Republican  Convention  had  nominated  Judge 
Folger,  it  took  the  character  of  a  non-party  move 
ment.  It  was  soon  difficult  to  determine  who 
were  most  in  favor  of  Cleveland,  the  Democrats 
who  brought  him  forward,  or  the  Republicans  who 
came  to  his  support.  The  popular  impulses  were 
quickened  by  the  general  confidence  in  his  char 
acter,  judgment  and  integrity.  Many  thought 
that  it  wrould  be  well  to  send  to  Albany  a  man 
who  had  shown  himself  so  trustworthy  at  home. 
When  the  Democratic  Convention  met  in  Syra 
cuse,  all  the  delegates  from  the  western  counties 
came  there,  ardent  supporters  of  Cleveland.  They 
wen>  accompanied  by  a  large  body  of  citizens, 
who  advocated  their  favorite  with  an  energy  such 
as  was  shown  in  behalf  of  no  one  else. 

Up  to  this  time  the  Cleveland  movement  had 
excited  only  a  languid  interest  at  the  East.  It 
was  nc  t  believed,  by  the  party  managers,  that  a 
new  man,  living  at  the  western  end  of  the  State, 
could  become  a  formidable  competitor  for  the 
nomination.  The  Chairman  of  the  State  Commit 
tee  had  received  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Cleveland's 


56  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

candidacy  with  indifference  and  incredulity.  But 
the  political  situation  was  singularly  favorable  to 
a  man  who  lived  away  from  the  scene  of  party 
contentions,  and  who  was  unconnected  with  the 
factions  into  which  the  Democrats  of  New  York 
and  Brooklyn  were  divided.  In  New  York  these 
divisions  were  so  serious  as  to  make  it  doubtful 
whether  the  party  could  be  united.  In  1878  the 
opponents  of  the  regular  organization  had  made 
an  open  alliance  with  the  Republicans,  and  a  coali 
tion  ticket,  made  up  partly  of  Democrats  and 
partly  of  Republicans,  had  been  elected.  It  had 
been  usual  for  the  Governor  to  stand  aloof  from 
municipal  factions,  but  in  1878,  the  Governor,  Mr. 
Robinson,  openly  sided  with  the  coalition,  and 
used  all  of  his  power  to  defeat  the  party  nominees. 
In  consequence  of  this,  Tammany  Hall  determined 
not  to  support  Governor  Robinson,  if  he  were 
nominated  for  election,  and  openly  declared  that 
intention  before  the  meeting  of  the  Convention. 
This  avowal  was  artfully  used  by  the  friends  of 
Governor  Robinson.  It  was  represented  to  the 
country  Democracy  as  a  threat,  and  they  were 
urged  not  to  submit  to  Tammany  dictation.  The 
Republican  journals,  eager  to  promote  Democratic 
dissensions,  enforced  this  view,  and  their  columns 
were  filled  with  appeals  to  the  country  Democrats 
to  stand  firm ;  and  with  denunciations  of  Mr.  Kelly 
and  his  followers.  Prejudice  and  passion  were 
easily  excited.  The  Democratic  Convention  of 


CANVASS    FOR    GOVERNOR.  57 

1879  met  under  the  stress  of  a  feeling  so  strong  as 
to  make  deliberation  impossible.  Tammany  was 
listened  to,  indeed,  but  her  advocates  addressed 
minds  already  resolved.  Their  remonstrances 
were  disregarded,  and  Governor  Robinson  was 
re-nominated.  The  Tammany  representatives  at 
once  left  the  Convention,  and  meeting  the  same 
evening  with  some  sympathizers  from  other  coun 
ties,  nominated  John  Kelly,  of  New  York,  as  their 
candidate  for  Governor.  A  contest  then  took 
place  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  State. 
Mr.  Kelly's  supporters  had  no  organization  any 
where  except  in  the  City  of  New  York,  no  means 
of  distributing  tickets  or  securing  attendance  at 
the  polls.  Notwithstanding  the  lack  of  organiza 
tion,  Mr.  Kelly  received  votes  in  every  County  in 
the  State,  and  when  the  returns  were  canvassed, 
it  was  found  that  seventy  thousand  Democrats, 
about  one  in  seven  of  the  Democratic  voters,  had 
thrown  their  ballots  for  a  candidate  who,  it  was 
certain,  could  not  be  elected. 

This  result  made  a  decided  change  in  the  politi 
cal  situation.  It  was  impossible  to  ignore  a  body 
of  men  whose  friends  were  found  everywhere,  and 
whose  numbers  were  so  great.  Therefore,  in 
1880,  the  Tammany  representatives  were  received 
at  the  State  Convention.  But  in  1881  the  dele 
gates  from  Tammany  Hall  were  refused  admission 
to  the  Convention. 

The    organization     again    showed     its     usual 


58  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

strength  at  the  polls.  A  majority  of  the  Demo 
crats  of  the  city  supported  its  candidates,  and  it 
elected  a  sufficient  number  of  Senators  and 
Assemblymen  to  hold  the  balance  of  power  in  the 
Legislature. 

The  question,  in  1882,  was  how  to  secure  a 
union  of  Democrats  in  the  city.  It  was  clear  that 
this  could  most  easily  be  done  by  nominating  some 
gentleman  who  had  not  been  connected  with  State 
politics,  but  who  had  still  acquired  the  necessary 
reputation  and  standing.  Mr.  Cleveland  filled  all 
these  conditions.  Indeed,  he  was  more  fortunate 
than  either  of  his  rivals.  These  were  Roswell  P. 
Flower  and  General  Henry  W.  Slocum.  Mr. 
Flower  had  acted,  in  1877,  as  Chairman  of  the 
State  Executive  Committee,  and  in  that  capacity 
had  managed  the  successful  campaign  of  that  year. 
He  had  served  a  term  in  Congress,  but  his  reputa 
tion  was  chiefly  that  of  a  business  man,  and  he  had 
had,  or  was  supposed  to  have  had,  such  intimate 
relations  with  Tammany  Hall,  that  the  opponents 
of  that  organization  looked  upon  him  with  sus 
picion.  General  Slocum  was  well  fitted  for  the 
highest  public  employments.  He  was  an  excel 
lent  soldier.  He  had  risen  rapidly  from  the  com 
mand  of  a  regiment  to  a  Major-Generalship,  and 
had  proved  himself  equal  to  all  the  emergencies 
of  war.  Any  one  who  will  study  the  battle  of 
Glendale,  the  last  great  encounter  of  the  war,  will 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  General  Slocum  might 


CANVASS    FOR    GOVERNOR.  59 

have  been  entrusted  with  the  most  important 
military  operations.  But  he  was  not  generally 
appreciated  at  his  true  value.  He  has  no  faculty 
for  public  display,  and  a  somewhat  reserved  dis 
position  makes  it  difficult  to  know  him  well  ;  and 
full  knowledge  of  him  is  needed  before  one  is 
likely  to  realize  how  strong  and  able  a  man  he  is. 
He  was  presented  to  the  Convention  by  the 
Brooklyn  delegation,  but  the  relations  between  the 
Brooklyn  leaders  and  the  New  York  Democrats 
had  been  such  as  to  make  the  latter  reluctant  to 
accept  General  Slocum. 

The  Tammany  representatives  were  admitted 
to  the  Convention.  On  the  third  ballot  their  votes 
were  thrown  for  Grover  Cleveland,  and  secured 
his  nomination. 

As  soon  as  the  canvass  opened  it  was  seen  that 
the  choice  had  been  a  wise  one.  The  movement 
for  Cleveland  rose  in  the  West  to  a  great  height 
and  ran  swiftly  through  the  State.  Everywhere 
factional  differences  were  swept  away.  In  New 
York  the  adherents  of  Tammany  and  of  the 
County  and  Irving  Hall  organizations  united  in 
support  of  the  State  ticket,  and  upon  all  other 
important  nominations. 

The  Republican  dissensions  were  increased  in 
proportion  to  the  growth  of  Democratic  union 
and  enthusiasm.  Those  Republicans  who  were 
disposed  to  vote  against  their  party,  were  not 
deterred  by  fear  of  failure.  The  certainty  of 


6O  LIFE^OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

Cleveland's  election  increased  the  temptation  to 
aid  his  cause.  Thousands  were  eager  to  add  to 
the  weight  of  the  blow  which  was  to  fall  on  the 
Administration  and  its  friends.  The  Republican 
candidate  was  an  eminent  citizen.  He  had  shown 
high  abilities  in  many  public  employments.  His 
character  was  without  a  stain.  He  was  Chief 
Justice  of  the  State  ;  and  a  long  career  on  the 
bench  had  won  for  him  that  general  esteem  and 
public  favor  which  successful  judicial  service  almost 
always  wins.  But  the  more  worthy  the  candidate 
the  more  impressive  the  lesson  of  his  defeat.  The 
murder  of  Garfield  was  to  be  avenged  ;  party 
chains  were  to  be  broken  ;  an  accidental  President 
was  to  be  rebuked  ;  the  forgery  of  a  telegram 
was  to  be  punished,  and  Republican  independence 
and  manhood  were  to  be  asserted.  The  party 
difficulties  were  increased  by  the  attitude  of  lead 
ing  men. 

Mr.  Evarts,  who  had  always  been  ready  to  give 
his  elaborate  eloquence  to  his  party,  was  silent,  and 
what  was  of  far  more  importance,  Roscoe  Conk- 
ling  also  was  silent.  For  more  than  a  decade  he 
had  been  the  Republican  advocate.  His  popular 
triumphs  had  been  without  precedent.  In  1872, 
when  Republican  supremacy  was  threatened  by  a 
revolt,  formidable  on  account  of  the  number  and 
the  character  of  the  rebels,  he  excited  the  Repub 
licans  who  remained  faithful  to  their  party  to  un 
exampled  efforts  ;  efforts  which  created  a  Demo- 


CANVASS    FOR    GOVERNOR.  6 1 

cratic  supineness  far  more  effective  at  the  polls 
than  the  liberal  Republican  rebellion.  In  1876  he 
had  held  his  party  together  amid  great  discour 
agements,  and  upon  a  lost  field.  He  had  after 
wards  stood  aloof  from  the  intrigues  by  which  Mr. 
Tilden  had  been  deprived  of  the  office  to  which 
he  had  been  elected.  In  1882,  at  a  time  when 
Republican  defeat  seemed  to  be  certain — when 
Mr.  Elaine  had  been  beaten  in  Maine,  and  the 
October  elections  in  Ohio  and  Indiana  were  in  the 
greatest  doubt — he  reluctantly  came  forward  to 
aid  a  candidate  whom  he  distrusted  and  despised. 
He  threw  himself  into  the  canvass  with  all  his 
accustomed  zeal.  Those  who  have  never  heard 
Mr.  Conkling  addressing  a  great  meeting  can 
have  but  little  idea  of  the  vigor,  brilliancy,  and 
fiery  energy  of  his  picturesque  eloquence.  The 
effect  of  his  speeches  at  the  West,  and  in  this 
State,  cannot  be  over-stated.  Never,  in  our 
politics,  has  any  one  made  such  a  display  of  per 
sonal  power.  But  in  .1882  he  was  silent.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  explain  here  the  causes  of  his 
silence.  Its  effects  were  to  be  seen  plainly 
enough  by  all  who  watched  the  events  of  that 
year. 

The  Republican  disaffection  grew  more  power 
ful  every  day.  Party  journals,  like  the  Buffalo 
Express,  openly  advocated  Cleveland's  election. 
The  Albany  Journal,  the  New  York  Times,  and 
the  Tribune  gave  Judge  Folger  but  a  cold  sup- 


62  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

port.  The  friends  of  Garfield  wished  his  defeat. 
The  friends  of  Conkling  wished  his  defeat ;  and 
to  these  discontents,  added  to  Democratic  enthu 
siasm,  the  friends  of  President  Arthur  could  make 
but  little  resistance.  The  Republican  treasury 
was  without  funds,  and  had  the  canvass  lasted  two 
weeks  longer,  the  Republican  cause  would  proba 
bly  have  been  practically  abandoned.  The  elec 
tion  resulted  in  a  majority  of  one  hundred  and 
ninety-two  thousand  for  Grover  Cleveland ;  in 
the  election  of  twenty-one  Democratic  members 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  of  a  large 
majority  in  the  State  Assembly.  The  wisdom  of 
those  who  had  advised  Mr.  Cleveland's  nomina 
tion  was  abundantly  vindicated  by  this  overwhelm 
ing  victory. 

In  that  hour  of  triumph  there  was  one  man 
whose  mind  was  filled  with  anxiety.  The  Demo 
cratic  candidate  had,  during  the  canvass,  borne 
himself  modestly,  and  had  passed  his  time  in  the 
duties  of  his  office.  He  heard  the  news  of  his 
success  with  joy,  indeed,  but  it  was  a  joy  tempered 
by  a  sense  of  the  undefined  responsibilities  which 
lay  before  him.  This  feeling  showed  itself  in  the 
speech  which  he  made  the  night  of  his  election 
at  the  Manhattan  Club,  and  even  more  strongly 
in  the  address  which  he  made  upon  taking  the 
oath  of  office. 

To  many,  the  governorship  thus  attained  sug 
gested  the  presidency.  If  this  high  anticipation 


CANVASS    FOR    GOVERNOR.  63 

came  to  him,  as  it  did  to  others,  it  made  no  change 
in  his  demeanor.  Deliberately  and  calmly  he 
began  to  prepare  for  his  departure,  and  performed 
the  preliminary  work  in  the  composition  of  his 
message  and  the  selection  of  his  staff,  as  unosten 
tatiously  as  if  they  were  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
his  daily  employment. 

"  If  chance  will  have  one  king,  why,  chance  may  crown  me 
Without  my  stir." 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    GOVERNORSHIP. 

VETO   OF  THE   FIVE-CENT   FARE   BILL   AND    OTHER   VETOES. 

MR.  CLEVELAND  entered  upon  the  Governor 
ship  under  certain  disadvantages.  The  accession 
of  a  new  Governor  always  excites  public  expecta 
tion.  This  expectation  was  greatly  increased  and 
quickened  by  the  incidents  of  the  canvass,  by  the 
unprecedented  majority  he  had  received,  and  by 
the  fact  that  he  was  new  to  public  life.  The  peo 
ple  naturally  looked  with  exceeding  curiosity  for 
the  first  of  his  public  acts  in  order  that  they  might 
determine  what  manner  of  man  he  was,  and  how 
fitted  for  the  great  place  into  which  he  had  so  sud 
denly  come.  His  acquaintance  with  public  men 
was  limited,  and  his  acquaintance  with  the  affairs 
of  the  State  was  probably  only  such  as  would  be 
obtained  by  a  lawyer  in  the  ordinary  course  of  his 
profession.  He  had  never  been  in  the  Legisla 
ture,  nor  in  any  way  connected  with  the  State 
administration.  He  set  about  his  work  with  a 
strong  sense  of  these  deficiencies,  but  with  a  reso 
lution  to  do  whatever  he  found  to  be  his  duty,  so 
64 


GOVERNOR'S  MANSION,  ALBANY,  N.  Y. 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  67 

clear  and  firm  that  those  who  knew  him  best  had 
little  doubt  of  his  success. 

The  night  before  his  inauguration  he  said  to  a 
friend  that  he  looked  forward  to  the  three  years 
to  come  with  dread.  Said  he:  "I  shall  never  be 
happy  again  until  I  get  back  to  Buffalo."  His 
friend  replied:  "You  will  change  your  mind.  I 
will  come  here  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
year,  and  you  will  then  tell  me  that  you  have 
found  the  Governorship  a  pleasant  place,  for  you 
will  find  in  it  abundant  opportunities  to  be  useful." 
It  was  not  necessary  to  wait  a  year  for  the  change 
of  opinion  :  for  when  the  gentlemen  met  a  few 
months  afterwards,  the  Governor  confessed  that 
he  had  not  found  his  office  as  unpleasant  as  he 
had  expected.  The  situation  was  not  an  easy  one. 
The  labor  questions,  as  they  are  called,  had  come 
to  be  pressing  and  important.  The  employment  of 
convict  labor  in  manufactures  had  given  offence 
to  many  of  the  working  men,  and  presented  a  sub 
ject  of  great  delicacy  and  difficulty. 

A  strong  feeling  had  grown  up  in  respect  to  the 
corporations,  and  there  was  much  discussion  as 
to  the  taxation  they  should  be  made  to  bear.  This 
feeling  had  brought  about  the  passage  of  a  law 
creating  a  railroad  commission.  The  Legislature 
had  not  been  willing  to  give  to  Governor  Cornell 
the  appointment  of  the  Commissioners,  and  that 
duty  had  been  thrown  upon  his  successor.  In 
addition  to  these  more  prominent  subjects  there 


68  LIFE    OP^    G ROVER    CLEVELAND. 

were  a  great  variety  of  important  affairs,  such  as 
are  always  incident  to  government  in  a  common 
wealth  like  New  York. 

Governor  Cleveland's  first  message  to  the  Leg 
islature  was  a  simple,  and,  it  may  be  said,  a  some 
what  timid  document.  At  the  outset  he  made  an 
intimation  that  a  newly  elected  Executive  could 
"  hardly  be  prepared  to  present  a  complete  exhibit 
of  State  affairs."  He  therefore  confined  himself 
to  such  a  review  of  the  finances  and  of  the  various 
departments  of  the  government  as  could  be  predi 
cated  upon  reports  made  to  him  by  State  officials. 
It  was  clear  that  the  Governor  intended  to  wait  for 
some  other  occasion  in  which  to  give  the  public 
a  taste  of  his  quality. 

There  was,  doubtless,  some  popular  disappoint 
ment  over  the  first  message.  But  it  was  not  long 
before  he  was  able  to  show  so  clearly  that  it  could 
not  be  doubted,  that  a  man  of  great  force  of  char 
acter  and  strength  of  purpose  had  come  into  the 
Governorship.  He  began  to  use  the  veto  power 
with  unusual  frequency.  Between  the  26th  of 
January  and  the  ist  of  March  he  sent  to  the  Leg 
islature  eight  veto  messages.  These  documents 
clearly  disclose  his  purposes.  In  one,  he  refused 
to  permit  the  County  of  Montgomery  to  borrow 
money.  In  another  he  refused  his  consent  to  an 
amendment  of  the  charter  of  Elmira  which  was 
intended  to  change  the  liability  of  the  city  for  in 
juries  received  in  consequence  of  the  streets  being 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  69 

in  an  unsafe  and  dangerous  condition.  He  re 
fused  his  signature  to  a  bill  which  would  have 
relieved  the  library  association  of  Fredonia  from 
the  payment  of  local  taxes,  and  to  one  that  author 
ized  the  County  of  Chautauqua  to  appropriate 
money  for  a  soldiers'  monument.  He  vetoed  an 
act  authorizing  the  village  of  Fayetteville,  where 
he  had  lived  during  his  boyhood,  to  borrow  money 
for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  a  steam  fire-engine, 
and  also  one  authorizing  the  village  of  Mechanics- 
ville  to  borrow  money  for  the  same  purpose. 

By  these  vetoes  he  showed  that  he  was  deter 
mined  to  adhere  to  the  rule  which  had  gov 
erned  him  while  Mayor  of  Buffalo,  and  to  deal 
with  the  public  moneys  on  the  principle  that  offi 
cials  are  the  trustees  of  the  people. 

On  the  2d  of  March,  1883,  ne  did  an  act 
which  has  proved  the  most  important  one  of 
his  administration,  and  which  has  subjected  him 
to  severe  criticism.  This  was  the  veto  of  a  bill 
which  reduced  the  fares  on  the  elevated  railroads 
in  New  York  to  five  cents.  This  act  was  of  such 
far-reaching  consequence  as  to  require  full  expla 
nation  and  the  consideration  of  the  reasons  and 
motives  which  controlled  the  Governor. 

The  question  involved  may  be  simply  stated. 
It  has  been  generally  supposed  that  it  was  merely 
a  question  of  a  change  by  the  Legislature  in  the 
law,  by  which  railway  fares  were  regulated,  and  to 
the  suggestion  commonly  made  that  the  act  author- 
5 


7O  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

izing  a  railway  corporation  to  charge  certain  rates 
of  fares  was  in  the  nature  of  a  contract ;  the  answer 
had  been  made  that  one  Legislature  could  not  so 
bind  the  action  of  a  future  Legislature  as  to  create 
a  contract  which  would  be  protected  by  the  pro 
vision  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
prohibiting  any  State  from  impairing  the  obliga 
tion  of  a  contract.  But  the  question  presented 
by  the  five-cent  fare  bill  was  not  such  a  question 
at  all.  By  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  passed  in 
April,  1868,  it  had  been  provided  that  the  railway 
company  and  the  city  of  New  York  might  enter 
into  an  arrangement  by  which  the  company  should 
undertake  to  pay  into  the  city  treasury  five  per 
cent,  of  its  net  earnings,  and  by  which  the  company 
should  be  entitled  to  charge  certain  rates  of  fare 
which  should  not  be  changed  without  the  mutual 
consent  of  the  parties  to  the  said  agreement.  This 
contract  was  subsequently  ratified  and  confirmed 
by  an  act  of  the  Legislature.  It  will  be  seen, 
therefore,  that  a  contract  had  been  made,  pursuant 
to  Legislative  permission,  and  which  had  after 
wards  received  Legislative  ratification,  as  to  which 
there  was,  to  say  the  least,  a  serious  question  as 
to  whether  it  was  not  protected  by  the  clause  in 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  above  referred 
to.  The  position  taken  by  the  Governor  as  to 
this  branch  of  the  case  was  supported  by  several 
decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  Courts  of  New  York. 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  J\ 

There  were  also  other  questions  involved  in 
the  bill.  There  were  high  considerations  of  pub 
lic  policy  and  public  faith.  It  had  been  found 
extremely  difficult  to  obtain  the  necessary  capital 
to  build  the  rapid  transit  roads  in  New  York. 
There  was  no  precedent  upon  which  business 
men  could  base  their  calculations.  For  years  all 
the  rapid  transit  enterprises  had  languished.  The 
great  capitalists  of  the  city  refused  to  invest  in 
them.  Neither  Vanderbilt  nor  the  Astors,  none 
of  the  great  railway  proprietors,  none  of  the  great 
real  estate  owners  invested  in  them.  The  men 
who  finally  carried  them  through  were  mainly 
merchants,  and  others  who  were  accustomed  to 
hazardous  speculations. 

Chief  among  them  was  Cyrus  W.  Field,  who 
had  risked  his  whole  estate  in  the  scheme  of  lay 
ing  the  cable  across  the  Atlantic ;  Mr.  Tilden, 
who  had  made  his  fortune  by  speculation ;  and 
Commodore  Garrison,  one  of  the  most  daring 
and  venturesome  of  the  business  men  of  his  time. 

The  final  success  of-  the  enterprise  was  not 
assured.  It  had  not  yet  been  ascertained  how 
long  the  expensive  structures  would  last.  Dis 
putes  had  arisen  with  the  city  about  taxation, 
involving  several  millions.  The  question  whether 
the  company  was  liable  to  the  owners  of  adjoining 
property  for  damages  was  still  undecided,  and 
was  pending  in  the  courts.  Under  circumstances 
like  these,  it  might  well  be  doubted  whether 


72  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

it  was  politic  for  the  State  to  impair  the  com 
pany's  revenues.  If  the  fares  could  be  reduced 
to  five  cents,  they  might  be  reduced  to  three  cents. 
But  the  faith  of  the  State  was  also  seriously 
involved.  The  fares  of  the  New  York  Central 
had  been  fixed  at  two  cents  a  mile  by  an  act 
passed  thirty  years  before.  The  fares  of  the  other 
railway  corporations  were  also  limited  by  law. 
It  was  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  capital  by  which 
these  great  works  had  been  constructed  was  fur 
nished  upon  the  belief  that  the  legalized  rates  of 
fare  would  be  continued,  and  certainly  that  no 
change  would  be  made  except  in  accordance  with 
the  provisions  of  the  statute,  which  declared  that 
the  rates  of  fare  should  not  be  reduced  unless  the 
comptroller  and  the  state  engineer  should  ascer 
tain  that  the  corporation  was  earning  a  profit 
greater  than  ten  per  cent,  upon  the  cost  of  con 
struction.  For  a  commercial  community  like  New 
York  to  disregard  the  implied  obligation  which 
had  arisen  between  the  State  and  its  citizens,  and 
between  the  State  and  citizens  of  other  states 
and  countries,  would  have  been,  in  the  judgment 
of  many  thoughtful  men,  a  dangerous  and  per 
nicious  act.  This  latter  view  was  taken  by 
Governor  Cleveland,  in  the  following  extract  from 
his  veto  message : 

"  But  we  have  especially  in  our  keeping  the 
honor  and  good  faith  of  a  great  State,  and  we 
should  see  to  it  that  no  suspicion  attaches,  through 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  73 

any  act  of  ours,  to  the  fair  fame  of  the  Common 
wealth.  The  State  should  not  only  be  strictly 
just,  but  scrupulously  fair,  and  in  its  relations  to 
the  citizen  every  legal  and  moral  obligation  should 
be  recognized.  This  can  only  be  done  by  legis 
lating  without  vindictiveness  or  prejudice,  and 
with  a  firm  determination  to  deal  justly  and  fairly 
with  those  from  whom  we  exact  obedience." 

Mr.  Edson,  the  Mayor  of  the  city  had  earnestly 
advised  the  Governor  not  to  sign  the  bill,  and  Mr. 
Erastus  Brooks,  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  and 
a  citizen  of  great  consideration  and  distinction, 
warmly  approved  the  veto.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Ander 
son,  President  of  Rochester  University,  and  a 
political  opponent  of  Governor  Cleveland,  wrote 
to  him  in  warm  terms  of  approval.  In  a  letter 
which  he  addressed  to  Governor  Cleveland,  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1883,  he  said  : 

"  I  cannot,  in  justice  to  my  convictions,  refrain  from 
expressing  my  gratitude  for  your  veto  message,  which  I 
have  just  read.  I  have  no  personal  interest  in  any  of  the 
great  corporations  which  were  directly  or  indirectly 
affected  by  the  bill,  from  which  you  have  so  wisely  with 
held  your  approval.  But  the  just  and  statesmanlike 
position  taken  in  your  message,  seems  to  me  a  most  fit 
ting  rebuke  to  the  demagogism  which  is  ready  to  trifle 
with  those  sacred  rights  of  property  guaranteed  by  our 
State  and  national  constitutions.  In  these  safeguards  of 
property,  the  poor  man  has  a  more  vital  interest  than  the 
capitalist,  for  they  make  secure  the  poor  man's  savings, 
which  constitute  his  only  means  of  support. 


74  LIFE    OF    GROVER   CLEVELAND. 

"  I  have  taken  occasion  to  commend  your  message  to 
the  careful  consideration  of  my  students  as  an  exhibition 
of  the  principles  which  should  govern  their  actions 
should  they  be  called  to  fill  public  station  in  their  future 
lives.  I  trust  you  will  pardon  me  for  obtruding  myself 
upon  your  attention.  As  a  teacher  of  young  men,  I  feel 
grateful  to  any  public  functionary  who  illustrates  in  his 
person  the  lessons  which  I  am  so  anxious  to  impress 
upon  their  minds.  Again  I  thank  you  for  the  courage 
ous  and  worthy  action  which  you  have  adopted  to  secure 
sound  government  for  our  great  State." 

Andrew  D.  White,  the  President  of  Cornell 
University,  in  writing  to  a  friend,  used  the  follow 
ing  language  : 

"  I  will  say  to  you  frankly,  that  I  am  coming  to  have 
a  very  great  respect  and  admiration  for  our  new  Governor. 
His  course  on  the  Elevated  Railroad  bill  first  com 
mended  him  to  me.  Personally,  I  should  have  been  glad 
to  have  seen  that  company  receive  a  slap.  But  the 
method  of  administering  it  seemed  to  me  very  insidious 
and  even  dangerous,  and  glad  was  I  to  see  that  the  Gov 
ernor  rose  above  all  the  noise  and  clap-trap  which  was 
raised  about  the  question,  went  to  the  fundamental  point 
of  the  matter  and  vetoed  the  bill.  I  think  his  course  at 
that  time  gained  the  respect  of  every  thinking  man  in  the 
State." 

Whatever  the  public  opinion  was  as  to  the 
points  of  law  stated  by  the  Governor  in  his  veto 
message,  or  as  to  the  wisdom  of  his  action,  no 
one  doubted  his  sincerity,  nor  was  there  thence 
forward  any  doubt  whatever  as  to  his  firmness 
and  courage. 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  75 

There  were  many  who  had  advised  him  to  let 
the  bill  become  a  law  without  his  signature,  and 
to  leave  it  to  the  courts  to  decide  whether  the  law 
was  constitutional  or  not.  But  it  had  never  been 
customary  for  the  Governors  of  New  York  to 
shirk  their  duties,  and  Governor  Cleveland  was 
not  willing  to  set  a  bad  example.  He  said  in  his 
message,  "  I  am  convinced,  that  in  all  cases  the 
share  which  falls  upon  the  Executive  regarding 
the  legislation  of  the  State,  should  be  in  no  man 
ner  evaded,  but  fairly  met  by  the  expression  of 
his  carefully  guarded  and  unbiased  judgment." 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  there  were  any, 
even  among  those  who  most  loudly  denounced 
his  action,  who  did  not  have  a  higher  opinion  of 
him  after  the  veto  than  before.  By  the  owners  of 
property  throughout  the  whole  State  his  conduct 
was  received  with  approval. 

Soon  after  the  veto,  the  railroad  commissioners 
were  instructed  to  examine  and  report  as  to  the 
cost  of  running  the  elevated  railroad.  Their 
report  showed  that  a  reduction  to  a  five-cent  fare 
would,  at  the  number  of  passengers  carried  in 
1882,  so  reduce  the  income  of  the  companies  as 
to  prevent  them  from  providing  for  the  interest  on 
their  bonded  debt.  It  also  appeared  that  the  rate  of 
fare  during  what  are  known  as  commission  hours, 
to  wit,  from  half-past  five  to  half-past  eight  in  the 
morning,  and  from  half-past  four  to  half-past  seven 
in  the  evening,  was  five  cents  ;  and  that  trains 


76  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

were  run  at  those  rates  upon  the  two  principal 
roads,  at  intervals  of  forty-five  seconds.  It  was 
manifest,  therefore,  that  the  laborers  who  go  to 
their  work  before  half-past  eight  in  the  morning, 
and  who  return  before  half-past  seven  in  the  even 
ing,  had  no  interest  in  the  proposed  reduction. 
Had  it  taken  effect,  it  would  have  operated  almost 
entirely  in  favor  of  the  wealthier  classes,  who  use 
the  roads  during  the  mid-day  hours,  and  would 
have  been  a  severe  blow  to  the  surface  roads  and 
all  their  employees. 

On  the  Qth  of  April,  1883,  the  Governor  sent  to 
the  Assembly  another  veto  which  attracted  great 
attention.  An  Act  had  been  passed  amending  the 
Charter  of  the  City  of  Buffalo,  the  object  of  which 
was  to  reorganize  the  Fire  Department  of  that 
City.  Less  than  three  years  before  the  Fire 
Department  had  been  placed  under  the  control  of 
three  Commissioners,  who  were  appointed  by  the 
Mayor.  The  proposed  measure  abolished  the 
Commission  and  placed  the  department  under  the 
control  of  a  Chief,  who,  with  his  assistants,  was  to 
be  appointed  by  the  Mayor.  The  resignation  by 
Governor  Cleveland  of  the  mayoralty  of  Buffalo 
had,  of  course,  produced  a  change  in  the  personnel 
of  the  city  government ;  and  the  plain  object  of 
the  bill  was  to  give  the  new  Mayor  control  of  an 
important  department,  and  to  place  a  considerable 
patronage  in  his  hands.  The  Governor  promptly 
vetoed  the  bill,  and  closed  his  message  as  follows  : 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  77 

"  The  purpose  of  the  bill  is  too  apparent  to  be 
mistaken.  A  tried,  economical  and  efficient 
administration  of  an  important  department  in  a 
large  city  is  to  be  destroyed  upon  partisan  grounds, 
or  to  satisfy  personal  animosities,  in  order  that 
the  places  and  patronage  attached  thereto  may  be 
used  for  party  advancement. 

"I  believe  in  an  open  and  steady  partisanship, 
which  secures  the  legitimate  advantages  of  party 
supremacy  ;  but  parties  were  made  for  the  people, 
and  I  am  unwilling,  knowingly,  to  give  my  assent 
to  measures  purely  partisan,  which  will  sacrifice 
or  endanger  their  interests." 

This  act  caused  great  criticism  among  those  who 
had  promoted  it ;  but  it  was  generally  approved  in 
Buffalo  and  in  other  parts  of  the  State. 

Another  very  important  veto  of  Governor  Cleve 
land's  during  his  first  winter  at  Albany,  was  that 
of  an  act  providing  for  the  construction,  mainten 
ance  and  operation  of  Street  Railways  in  cities, 
towns  and  villages. 

Great  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon  Gover 
nor  Cleveland  to  approve  this  measure.  The  late 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  had  prohibited  the 
Legislature  from  passing  special  acts  granting 
charters  to  Street  Railway  Companies,  and 
required  that  a  general  law  should  be  passed  which 
should  provide  for  the  organization  of  such  com 
panies  wherever,  throughout  the  State,  they  might 
be  needed.  In  some  of  the  cities  there  was  a  great 


78  LIFE   OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

necessity  for  additional  street  railway  facilities,  but 
it  was  particularly  so  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the 
growth  of  which  was  seriously  retarded  by  the 
want  of  them.  Under  these  circumstances  it  was 
difficult  for  the  Governor  to  resist  the  arguments 
in  favor  of  the  bill  which  came  from  many  quar 
ters,  and  which  were  pressed  upon  him  by  influ 
ential  friends.  He,  however,  came  to  the  conclu 
sion  that  the  act  contained  improper  provisions, 
and  was  passed  in  the  interests  of  a  single  locality, 
rather  than  those  of  the  whole  State.  He  said  : 

"  In  any  event,  if  it  is  proposed  to  act  under  the 
Constitution,  there  should  honestly  and  fairly  be 
accorded  to  the  people  the  protection  which  the 
Constitution  intended. 

"I  think  no  one  can  read  the  peculiar  provi 
sions  of  this  bill,  without  being  convinced  that  its 
design  is  more  to  further  private  and  corporate 
schemes,  than  to  furnish  the  citizens  of  the  State 
street  railroad  facilities,  under  the  spirit  and  letter 
of  the  Constitution,  and  within  the  limits  therein 
fixed  for  the  benefit  of  the  people." 

Governor  Cleveland's  veto  messages,  during 
his  first  winter  at  Albany,  together  with  the  mem 
orandum  of  objections  accompanying  the  supply 
bill,  make  a  book  of  more  than  one  hundred 
pages.  They  furnish  an  interesting  expression 
of  his  character  and  methods  of  thought.  They 
are  well-written,  in  a  clear  and  simple  style.  They 
show  how  consistently  he  acted  upon  the  rule  he 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  79 

had  laid  down.  It  was  his  Buffalo  rule  that  public 
office  is  a  trust,  and  that  public  moneys  are  to  be 
dealt  with  as  trust-funds  are  dealt  with.  As 
Governor  he  has  held  rigidly  to  the  same  prin 
ciple,  which  all  sound  business  men  strongly 
endorse. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    GOVERNORSHIP. 

HIS  APPOINTMENTS  TO  OFFICE — LABOR  QUESTIONS CAR  CONDUCTOR'S  BILL. 

GOVERNOR  CLEVELAND  applied  his  favorite  rule 
of  conduct  to  the  important  appointments  which 
he  had  to  make  soon  after  taking  office.  His 
selections  were  made  upon  an  estimate  which  he 
had  formed  of  the  fitness  of  the  person,  and  with 
less  reference  to  party  considerations.  It  is  true 
that,  in  all  cases  where  he  could,  he  appointed 
Democrats,  but  he  selected  men  more  with  refer 
ence  to  their  ability  to  do  their  work  satisfactorily, 
than  to  their  party  usefulness. 

He  appointed  a  gentleman  who  had  long  been 
the  assistant  in  the  Insurance  Department  to  the 
headship  of  that  department.  He  brought  a  builder 
from  Binghampton,  and  made  him  Commissioner 
of  the  Capitol,  and  a  business  man  in  Buffalo  was 
appointed  Commissioner  of  Public  Buildings. 
The  Superintendent  of  Public  Works  whom  he 
selected,  although  a  strong  and  vigorous  partisan, 
had  had  a  long  and  responsible  connection  with 
the  management  of  the  canals.  In  making  these 
appointments  Governor  Cleveland,  of  course,  set 
80 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  8 1 

aside  candidates  who  were  strongly  pressed  by 
political  leaders,  and  upon  party  grounds,  but  the 
result  has  well-justified  his  choice,  and  the  general 
opinion  in  New  York  is,  that  the  Governor's 
appointments  have  contributed  to  the  efficiency 
of  the  public  service. 

His  action  as  to  one  important  office  has  had 
serious  consequences.  A  former  Legislature  had 
passed  an  act  providing  for  the  abolishment  of  the 
Quarantine  Commission  in  the  City  of  New  York, 
and  permitting  the  appointment  of  one  Commis 
sioner.  The  Governor  selected  for  the  place  a 
gentleman  entirely  qualified,  but  who  was  a  resi 
dent  of  Brooklyn,  while  the  duties  of  the  office 
were  to  be  performed  in  New  York,  where  the 
operations  of  the  Commission  had  always  been 
carried  on.  The  selection  of  a  non-resident  for 
so  important  an  office  produced  a  lively  feeling 
of  discontent  among  the  Democrats  of  Tammany 
Hall.  The  Senators  who  represented  that  organ 
ization,  were  instructed  to  oppose  Mr.  Murtha's 
confirmation.  This  led  to  a  breech  between  the 
Governor  and  influential  party  leaders,  and  may 
be  said  to  have  been  the  beginning  of  the  opposi 
tion  which  he  has  encountered  in  his  own  party. 
The  most  important  places  which  Governor  Cleve 
land  was  called  upon  to  fill  had  been  created  by 
an  Act  of  the  last  Legislature,  providing  for  a 
Railroad  Commission.  This  Act  had  excited  great 
interest  throughout  the  State,  and  particularly  in 


82  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

the  minds  of  those  who  had  engaged  in  what  were 
known  as  the  "anti-monopoly"  movements.  The 
law  provided  that  one  of  the  three  Commissioners 
should  be  nominated  to  him  by  certain  business 
associations.  It  also  required  that  another  of  the 
Commissioners  should  be  a  Republican,  and  that 
one  of  the  Board  should  have  had  a  practical 
experience  in  railroad  management.  These  limi 
tations  seriously  restricted  the  Governor's  choice. 
The  gentleman  who  was  nominated  by  the  business 
associations  was  not  a  practical  railroad  man.  The 
Governor  thought  it  desirable  that  there  should 
be  a  lawyer  in  the  board,  and  therefore,  in  select 
ing  the  two  remaining  Commissioners,  he  chose 
for  one  Mr.  John  D.  Kernan,  of  Utica,  a  son  of 
Hon.  Francis  Kernan,  and  a  lawyer  of  excellent 
standing,  and  Mr.  William  E.  Rogers,  who  was  a 
graduate  of  West  Point,  had  been  an  officer  of 
engineers,  and  had  been  engaged  in  the  construc 
tion  and  management  of  railroads,  and  who  filled 
the  requirement  that  one  of  the  appointees  should 
be  a  Republican.  All  the  selections  were  good, 
and  the  Board  has,  during  the  short  period  of  its 
service,  done  very  important  work,  and  has 
acquired  a  reputation  second  only  to  the  long- 
established  Massachusetts  Commission. 

Governor  Cleveland,  who  was  the  son  of  a  poor 
clergyman,  and  was  compelled  to  earn  his  living 
from  the  time  he  was  seventeen  years  old,  has  been 
charged  with  a  want  of  sympathy  with  the  laboring 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  83 

classes.  This  charge  shows  a  complete  misunder 
standing  of  his  character.  From  the  beginning 
of  his  career  he  has  been  associated  with  plain 
people,  among  whom  he  has  lived:  sharing  their 
feelings,  and  sympathizing  with  their  purposes. 
He  is  himself  a  man  of  simple  life  and  plain 
manners.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  a  public 
man  can  any  where  be  found  less  liable  to  this 
charge.  He  is  not,  however,  a  demagogue,  nor 
accustomed  to  make  loud  professions  of  his  devo 
tion  either  to  the  poor  or  to  the  rich. 

The  Convention  which  nominated  him  had  been 
greatly  influenced  by  the  demands  of  the  laboring 
men,  and  had  adopted  the  following  resolution  as 
part  of  the  party  platform  : 

"  Twelfth.  We  reaffirm  the  policy  always  maintained 
by  the  Democratic  party  that  it  is  of  the  first  importance 
that  labor  should  be  made  free,  healthful,  and  secure  of 
just  remuneration.  That  convict  labor  should  not  come 
into  competition  with  the  industry  of  law-abiding  citizens. 
That  the  labor  of  children  should  be  surrounded  with 
such  safeguards  as  their  health,  their  rights  of  education 
and  their  future,  as  useful  members  of  the  community, 
demand.  That  work  shops,  whether  large  or  small, 
should  be  under  such  sanitary  control,  as  will  insure  the 
health  and  comfort  of  the  employed,  and  will  protect  all 
against  unwholesome  labor  and  surroundings.  That 
labor  shall  have  the  same  rights  as  capital  to  combine 
for  its  own  protection,  and  that  all  legislation  which 
cramps  industry,  or  which  enables  the  powerful  to 
oppress  the  weak,  should  be  repealed  ;  and,  to  promote 


84  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

the  interests  of  labor,  we  recommend  the  collection  of 
statistics  and  information  respecting  the  improvements, 
needs  and  abuses  of  the  various  branches  of  industry." 

This  declaration  had  been  accepted  by  the  can 
didate.  Mr.  Cleveland,  in  his  letter  accepting 
the  gubernatorial  nomination,  used  the  following 
language  : 

"  The  platform  of  principles  adopted  by  the 
Convention  meets  with  my  hearty  approval.  The 
doctrines  therein  enunciated  are  so  distinctly  and 
explicitly  stated  that  their  amplification  seems 
scarcely  necessitated.  If  elected  to  the  office  for 
which  I  have  been  nominated,  I  shall  endeavor  to 
impress  them  upon  my  administration  and  make 
them  the  policy  of  the  State." 

Further  on,  in  the  same  letter,  he  says  : 

"  The  laboring'  classes  constitute  the  main  part 
of  our  population.  They  should  be  protected  in 
their  efforts  to  assert  their  rights  when  endangered 
by  aggregated  capital,  and  all  statutes  on  this  sub 
ject  should  recognize  the  case  of  the  State  for 
honest  toil,  and  be  framed  with  a  view  of  improv 
ing  the  condition  of  the  working  man." 

These  pledges  have  been  faithfully  kept.  The 
Governor  signed  all  but  one  of  the  bills  which 
were  prepared  by  the  direction  of  the  labor  organ 
ization.  One  of  these  was  an  act  providing  for 
the  establishment  of  a  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics. 
Another  was  what  is  known  as  the  "Tenement 
House"  bill,  which  prohibits  the  manufacture  of 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  85 

cigars  in  tenement  houses.  The  third  was  an  act 
prohibiting  the  manufacture  of  woolen  hats  in 
the  State  prisons,  penitentiaries,  and  reform 
atories  of  the  State. 

The  Convict  Labor  Bill  did  not  reach  him  dur 
ing  the  first  session.  The  question  involved  in  it 
was  submitted  to  the  voters  of  the  State  at  the 
election  of  1883,  and  the  popular  decision  was 
against  the  continuance  of  convict  labor.  In  1884 
the  question  was  again  presented  to  the  Governor 
in  what  is  known  as  the  "  Comstock  Bill,"  a 
measure  which,  while  it  did  away  with  the  exist 
ing  system,  provided  no  means  whatever  for 
the  employment  of  the  convicts.  It  is  clearly 
necessary  as  a  matter  of  discipline,  and,  indeed, 
as  a  matter  of  mercy,  that  the  convicts  should  be 
kept  fully  employed.  The  bill  was,  also,  in  sev 
eral  respects,  defective,  and  the  Governor  sent 
for  Mr.  Thayer,  the  President  of  the  State  Trades 
Assembly,  and  suggested  that  the  bill  should  be 
recalled,  and  its  defects  remedied.  This  was 
done,  and  the  Governor  signed  the  bill,  although 
the  most  important  of  its  defects  still  remained,— 
the  failure  to  provide  some  employment  for  the 
convicts.  The  Legislature  of  last  winter,  which 
was  Republican,  did  not  pass  any  adequate  meas 
ure  upon  this  important  subject,  and  the  result 
is,  that  when  the  existing  contracts  expire,  the 
convicts  in  the  prisons  and  penitentiaries  of  the 
State  will  be  without  employment. 


86  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

Another  measure  which  received  Governor 
Cleveland's  approval,  is  known  as  the  "  Child 
Contract  Bill,"  which  makes  it  unlawful  for  the 
managers  of  Houses  of  Refuge,  or  other  reform 
atory  institutions,  to  contract  or  let  out  the  labor 
of  a  child  committed  to  their  care. 

An  act  was  sent  to  him,  applying  only  to  King's 
and  Queen's  counties,  interfering  with  the  lien 
which  a  mechanic  now  has.  The  bill  gave  to  all 
parties  having  claims,  whether  mechanics  or  not, 
a  first  lien,  thus  impairing  the  preference  they 
have  under  existing  laws.  This  act  the  Governor 
vetoed. 

The  official  act  of  Governor  Cleveland  which 
has  subjected  him  to  the  greatest  criticism  was 
his  refusal  to  sign  the  bill  known  as  the  ''Car 
Conductors  and  Drivers'  Bill."  The  act  is  in  the 
following  terms  : 

"  SECTION  I .  On  and  after  the  passage  of  this  act  it 
shall  be  unlawful  for  any  officer  or  agent  of  any  railroad 
corporation  in  any  of  the  cities  of  this  State,  whose  cars 
are  drawn  by  horses,  TO  EXACT  from  conductors  or  driv 
ers  employed  by  them  more  than  twelve  hours  labor  for 
a  day's  work,  and  such  corporations  shall,  out  of  said 
twelve  hour's  labor,  allow  such  conductors  and  drivers  a 
reasonable  time  to  obtain  meals. 

"  SEC.  2.  Any  officer  or  agent  of  any  such  corporation 
who  shall  violate  or  otherwise  evade  the  provisions  of 
this  act  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  pun 
ishable  by  a  fine  not  to  exceed  three  hundred  dollars,  or 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  87 

imprisonment  not  to  exceed  six  months,  or  both  fine  and 
imprisonment  for  each  offense. 

"  SEC.  3.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately." 

It  was  passed  at  the  very  close  of  the  session, 
and  did  not  reach  the  Governor  until  after  the 
final  adjournment,  so  that  there  was  no  opportu 
nity  to  return  it  for  amendment.  A  careful  con 
sideration  of  the  measure  shows  it  to  have  been 
extremely  defective.  It  makes  it  unlawful  for  any 
railroad  corporation,  in  any  of  the  cities  of  the 
State,  to  exact  from  conductors  and  drivers  more 
than  twelve  hours  labor  for  a  day's  work.  It  does 
not  provide  that  twelve  hours  shall  be  a  day's 
work,  nor  prevent  a  corporation  and  its  employees 
from  agreeing  for  longer  hours  of  labor.  The 
bill  was  so  unskillfully  drawn  as  plainly  to  be  in 
operative.  The  Governor,  therefore,  considering 
the  matter  simply  as  a  lawyer,  refused  to  sign  an 
act  which  he  knew  would  be  useless. 

One  of  his  early  acts  was  to  sign  a  valuable 
measure  making  the  wages  or  salaries  owing  to 
employees  by  any  assignor,  preferred  claims  upon 
the  assignor's  estate. 

He  also  vetoed  a  bill  which  permitted  savings 
banks  and  trust  companies  to  invest  their  funds  in 
such  securities  as  might  be  approved  by  the  super 
intendent  of  the  Banking  Department,  the  Gov 
ernor,  Comptroller,  and  the  State  Treasurer,  or  a 
majority  of  them.  He  said  : 

"  But  I  am  firmly  of  the  opinion  that  these  insti- 


LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

tutions  are,  as  their  name  implies,  a  place  of 
deposit  for  the  savings  of  those  among  the  poor 
and  laboring  people  who  see  the  propriety  of  put 
ting  aside  a  part  of  their  earnings  for  future  need, 
or  as  the  beginning  of  an  accumulation.  Such 
depositors  are  not,  and  should  not  be,  investors 
seeking,  as  a  paramount  purpose,  an  income  by 
way  of  interest  on  their  deposits.  When  they 
come  to  that,  there  are  other  instrumentalities 
which  should  be  employed. 

"Absolute  safety  of  the  principal  deposited  is 
what  the  patrons  of  savings  banks  should  seek  ; 
and  any  governmental  control  over  these  institu 
tions  should,  first  of  all,  be  directed  to  that  end. 

"  I  am  not  satisfied  that  this  is  done,  when  State 
officials,  already  charged  with  onerous  duties,  are 
called  to  decide  upon  the  value  of  proposed  securi 
ties,  and  when  the  safety  of  deposits  is  left  to  their 
determination,  and  the  care  of  directors  and  trus 
tees,  often  tempted  to  speculative  ventures,  beyond 
their  power  to  resist." 

Any  one  who  will  carefully  examine  his  public 
acts  will  find  that  he  has,  as  Governor,  been  most 
careful  of  the  rights  of  labor  and  most  watchful 
of  the  interests  of  the  poor. 

In  order  that  the  public  may  judge  what  impres 
sion  Governor  Cleveland's  course  has  produced 
upon  the  minds  of  those  most  interested,  a  letter 
lately  written  by  Walter  N.  Thayer,  President  of 
the  State  Trades  Assembly,  is  here  given : 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  89 

"  Jo  the  Argus : 

"  I  have  been  informed  that  a  statement  has  been  pub 
lished  to  the  effect  that  while  in  Chicago  at  the  recent 
National  Democratic  Convention  I  stated  that  I  could 
pledge  the  vote  of  the  workingmen,  of  this  and  other 
localities,  to  Governor  Cleveland.  I  wish  to  state  that  no 
such  expression  ever  fell  from  my  lips,  and  that  no  inter 
view  with  me  was  ever  published  in  which  I  made  such 
a  statement.  On  the  contrary,  I  stated  that  no  man  could 
pledge  the  vote  of  the  labor  element  of  New  York  State, 
or  of  any  portion  of  it,  to  any  candidate,  nor  did  any  man 
have  sufficient  influence  to  cause  it  to  be  cast  against  any 
candidate.  I  stated  that  if  any  man  pretended  to  pledge 
the  workingmen's  vote  to  any  candidate,  he  did  so  with 
out  any  authority.  I  stated  that  I  had  no  authority  to 
speak  for  them  on  political  questions,  nor  had  any  one  else. 

"  I  was  asked  what  my  personal  preferences  were,  and 
I  said  that  I  preferred  Governor  Cleveland.  When  asked 
my  reasons,  I  expressed  them  as  follows  :  The  working- 
men's  assembly  of  this  State  has,  since  I  have  been  at  the 
head  of  that  organization,  succeeded  in  passing  through 
the  Legislature  the  following  bills  :  Abolishing  the  man 
ufacture  of  hats  in  State  prisons ;  creating  a  bureau  of 
labor  statistics ;  the  tenement  house  cigar  bill  (twice] ; 
the  abolition  of  convict  contract  labor  ;  the  lien  law  ;  and 
the  conductors  and  drivers'  bills — seven  in  all.  Of  these 
measures  Governor  Cleveland  signed  five  and  vetoed  two, 
viz.,  the  lien  law,  and  the  conductors  and  drivers'  bill. 
As  to  the  lien  law,  it  is  generally  acknowledged  now  that 
he  did  us  a  kindness  in  vetoing  that  bill,  because,  through 
errors  of  our  own  in  drafting  the  measure,  the  bill  as 
passed  would  have  been  a  positive  injury  to  us.  The 
conductors  and  drivers'  bill,  I  think,  he  should  have 
signed. 


9O  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

"  So  the  record  shows  that  we  have  sent  to  Governor 
Cleveland  six  perfect  bills  and  he  has  signed  five  and 
vetoed  one.  On  this  record  I  am  not  prepared  to  con 
demn  him.  If  the  Governor  does  us  five  favors  and  com 
mits  but  one  error,  I  feel  that  he  is  entitled  to  my  sup 
port.  In  addition  to  the  labor  measures  prepared  by  our 
organization,  Governor  Cleveland  has  signed  a  bill  intro 
duced  by  Senator  Fassett,  which  makes  workingmen 
preferred  creditors  in  case  of  assignment  or  failure  of  the 
firm  or  corporation  by  which  they  are  employed.  Rec 
ognizing  the  justice  of  the  measure  and  its  great  benefits 
to  the  working  class,  I  asked  Governor  Cleveland  to  sign 
it,  and  he  did  so  without  hesitation.  So,  to  sum  the 
matter  up,  he  has  approved  of  six  bills  favorable  to  our 
interests  and  disapproved  of  one.  By  his  record  on 
legitimate  labor  measures  I  judge  him,  and  on  the  strength 
of  that  record  I  shall  support  him.  I  do  not  wish  it 
understood  that  I  am  voicing  the  sentiments  or  prefer 
ences  of  any  one  but  myself.  I  have  no  authority  to 
speak  for  the  workingmen  on  political  subjects. 
"'Yours  truly, 

"  WALTER  N.  THAYER. 

"TROY,  July  21,  1884." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    GOVERNORSHIP. 

CORPORATIONS. 

HE  has  also  been  charged  with  being  biased  in 
favor  of  corporations.  He  has  never  been  con 
nected  with  corporate  management  or  interested 
in  corporate  properties.  Even  in  his  profession, 
his  connection  with  them  has  been  incidental  and 
casual,  nor  has  he  ever  been  known  as,  what  is 
called,  a  corporation  lawyer. 

In  his  second  annual  message  to  the  Legislature, 
the  Governor  made  most  important  recommenda 
tions  with  reference  to  the  management  of  cor 
porations.  Criticisms  upon  corporate  manage 
ment  are  common  enough,  but  practical  remedies 
for  the  evils  complained  of  are  not  often  sug 
gested.  Perhaps  the  chief  evil  which  our  society 
suffers  from  these  institutions,  grows  out  of  the 
fact  that  corporations  have  been  and  are  the  chief 
corrupters  of  our  public  life.  They  furnish  a  large 
part  of  the  money  which  is  used  to  corrupt  our 
elections,  and  they  furnish  all  the  money  which  is 
used  to  corrupt  our  Legislatures.  The  creatures 
of  the  State  have  become  its  dangerous  enemies, 
and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  public  opin- 

91 


92  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

ion  with  reference  to  them,  assumes  a  threatening 
character.  What  remedy  can  be  found  for  the 
evil  ?  All  the  States  have  passed  severe  penal 
laws.  Everywhere  bribery  is  a  crime.  The  State 
of  New  York  has  made  it  a  felony  for  a  person  to 
give  or  to  receive  a  bribe.  But  the  laws  are  not 
executed.  Such  offenses  are  common,  but  there 
is  not  an  instance  in  our  later  history  of  the  suc 
cessful  prosecution  and  punishment  of  an  offender. 
Political  parties  have  denounced  these  corruptions. 
The  press  has  inveighed  against  them  and  exposed 
them.  The  pulpit  has  warned  the  people  against 
them.  Public  opinion  has  inflicted  upon  the 
offenders  every  penalty  which  it  can  command, 
and  yet  the  evil  has  not  been  checked  nor  greatly 
diminished.  It  has  grown  to  be  a  serious  danger, 
not  only  to  the  regular  administration  of  affairs, 
but  to  the  very  existence  of  our  system  of  Gov 
ernment. 

The  problem  still  is  how  can  this  evil  be 
checked.  It  is  clear  that  the  first  step  is  to  expose 
its  methods.  Corporate  funds,  like  the  moneys  of 
the  State,  are  in  the  nature  of  trust  funds.  In 
none  of  the  great  corporations  do  they  belong 
exclusively  to  the  directors  or  trustees  who 
administer  the  corporate  affairs.  They  belong  to 
large  bodies  of  citizens  scattered  throughout  the 
community.  A  railway  director,  or  the  trustee  of 
a  bank,  or  an  insurance  company,  acts  in  a  fidu 
ciary  capacity,  and  not  in  a  personal  one. 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  93 

It  was  thought  that  a  great  reform  would  be 
worked  out,  if  the  managers  of  corporations  were 
compelled  to  expose  their  accounts,  and  to  pro 
duce  vouchers  for  every  item  of  their  expendi 
tures.  This  plan  suggested  itself  to  Governor 
Cleveland,  before  he  began  the  preparation  of  his 
second  message.  He  determined  therefore  to 
recommend  that  the  great  railway  and  other 
moneyed  corporations,  should  be  compelled  to 
report  their  expenditures  to  some  department  of 
the  State  Government.  If  they  should  be 
required  to  furnish  detailed  statements  of  all 
disbursements,  clearly  showing  what  use  was 
made  of  the  corporate  funds,  and  in  all  cases  pre 
senting  the  proper  vouchers,  it  is  clear  that  it 
would  be  difficult  to  conceal  the  use  of  corporate 
moneys  for  corrupt  purposes. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  his  second 
annual  message,  dealing  with  this  subject: 

''It  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  a  most  valuable 
protection  to  the  people  if  other  large  corporations 
were  obliged  to  report  to  some  department  their 
transactions  and  financial  condition. 

"The  State  creates  these  corporations  upon  the 
theory  that  some  proper  thing  of  benefit  can  be 
better  done  by  them  than  by  private  enterprise, 
and  that  the  aggregation  of  the  funds  of  many 
individuals  may  be  thus  profitably  employed. 
They  are  launched  upon  the  public  with  the  seal 
of  the  State,  in  some  sense,  upon  them.  They 


94  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

are  permitted  to  represent  the  advantages  they 
possess  and  the  wealth  sure  to  follow  from  admis 
sion  to  membership.  In  one  hand  is  held  a  charter 
from  the  State,  and  in  the  other  is  proffered  their 
stock. 

''It  is  a  fact,  singular  though  well  established, 
that  people  will  pay  their  money  for  stock  in  a 
corporation  engaged  in  enterprises  in  which  they 
would  refuse  to  invest  if  in  private  hands. 

"It  is  a  grave  question  whether  the  formation 
of  these  artificial  bodies  ought  not  to  be  checked 
or  better  regulated,  and  in  some  way  supervised. 

"At  any  rate,  they  should  always  be  kept  well 
in  hand,  and  the  funds  of  its  citizens  should  be 
protected  by  the  State  which  has  invited  their 
investment.  While  the  stockholders  are  the  own 
ers  of  the  corporate  property,  notoriously  they  are 
oftentimes  completely  in  the  power  of  the  direct 
ors  and  managers,  who  acquire  a  majority  of  the 
stock  and  by  this  means  perpetuate  their  control, 
using  the  corporate  property  and  franchises  for 
their  benefit  and  profit,  regardless  of  the  inter 
ests  and  rights  of  the  minority  of  stockholders. 
Immense  salaries  are  paid  to  officers  ;  transactions 
are  consummated  by  which  the  directors  make 
money,  while  the  rank  and  file  among  the  stock 
holders  lose  it;  the  honest  investor  waits  for 
dividends  and  the  directors  grow  rich.  It  is 
suspected,  too,  that  large  sums  are  spent  under 
various  disguises  in  efforts  to  influence  legislation. 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  95 

"It  is  not  consistent  to  claim  that  the  citizen 
must  protect  himself,  by  refusing  to  purchase 
stock.  The  law  constantly  recognizes  the  fact 
that  people  should  be  defended  from  false  repre 
sentations  and  from  their  own  folly  and  cupidity. 
It  punishes  obtaining  goods  by  false  pretences, 
gambling  and  lotteries. 

"It  is  a  hollow  mockery  to  direct  the  owner  of  a 
small  amount  of  stock  in  one  of  these  institutions 
to  the  courts.  Under  existing  statutes,  the  law's 
delay,  perplexity  and  uncertainty  leads  but  to 
despair. 

''The  State  should  either  refuse  to  allow  these 
corporations  to  exist  under  its  authority  and 
patronage,  or  acknowledging  their  paternity  and 
its  responsibility,  should  provide  a  simple,  easy 
way  for  its  people,  whose  money  is  invested,  and 
the  public  generally,  to  discover  how  the  funds  of 
these  institutions  are  spent,  and  how  their  affairs 
are  conducted.  It  should  at  the  same  time  pro 
vide  a  way  by  which  the  squandering  or  misuse 
of  corporate  funds  would  be  made  good  to  the 
parties  injured  thereby. 

"This  might  well  be  accomplished  by  requiring 
corporations  to  frequently  file  reports  made  out 
with  the  utmost  detail,  and  which  would  not  allow 
lobby  expenses  to  be  hidden  under  the  pretext 
of  legal  services  and  counsel  fees,  accompanied  by 
vouchers  and  sworn  to  by  the  officers  making 
them,  showing  particularly  the  debts,  liabilities. 


96  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

expenditures  and  property  of  the  corporation. 
Let  this  report  be  delivered  to  some  appropriate 
department  or  officer,  who  shall  audit  and  examine 
the  same;  provide  that  a  false  oath  to  such 
account  shall  be  perjury,  and  make  the  directors 
liable  to  refund  to  the  injured  stockholders  any 
expenditure  which  shall  be  determined  improper 
by  the  auditing1  authority. 

"Such  requirements  might  not  be  favorable  to 
stock  speculation,  but  they  would  protect  the  inno 
cent  investors  ;  they  might  make  the  management 
of  corporations  more  troublesome,  but  this  ought 
not  to  be  considered  when  the  protection  of  the 
people  is  the  matter  in  hand.  It  would  prevent 
corporate  efforts  to  influence  legislation;  the 
honestly  conducted  and  strong  corporations  would 
have  nothing  to  fear ;  the  badly  managed  and  weak 
ought  to  be  exposed." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  the  record  of  any 
of  our  public  men  so  well-considered  a  plan  as 
that  here  presented,  dealing  with  the  glaring  evils 
of  legislative  and  official  corruption. 

If  Governor  Cleveland's  suggestions  should  be 
acted  upon,  all  corporate  acts  would  become  public 
acts,  and  a  more  effective  remedy  for  pernicious 
and  dangerous  crimes  would  be  found  than  by  the 
enactment  of  any  penal  statutes,  however  severe. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE    GOVERNORSHIP. 

MUNICIPALITIES. 

GOVERNOR  CLEVELAND'S  first  political  office  was 
that  of  Mayor  of  Buffalo.  The  first  political 
questions  with  which  he  had  to  deal  were  those 
connected  with  municipal  government. 

The  municipalities  in  New  York  have  long  been 
in  an  unsatisfactory  condition.  In  all  of  them  the 
expenditures  are  large,  taxation  is  high,  and  the 
administration  wasteful  and  extravagant.  The 
great  sums  of  money  raised  for  municipal  pur 
poses  do  not  accomplish  the  proper  results.  The 
cities  are  generally  unclean,  badly  paved  and  in 
most  instances  the  public  service  is  costly  and 
inefficient.  Many  persons  have  come  to  think 
that  a  government  by  universal  suffrage  cannot 
be  successfully  applied  to  municipal  affairs.  Gov 
ernor  Cleveland,  however,  was  not  of  this  opinion. 
He  thought  that  proper  remedies  for  existing  evils 
could  be  found,  and  economy  and  thoroughness 
introduced  into  the  city  governments  as  well  as 
into  that  of  the  State. 

His  plan  was  to  throw  upon  the  people  of  the 
municipalities    the    responsibility  of   self-govern- 

97 


98  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

ment ;  therefore,  he  asked  that  they  should  be 
invested  with  full  powers  to  deal  with  their  own 
affairs,  and  that  the  legislature,  after  having 
granted  such  powers,  should  cease  to  interfere 
with  the  local  administration.  In  his  first  message 
he  said  : 

"They  [municipal  governments]  should  be  so 
organized  as  to  be  simple  in  their  details,  and  to 
cast  upon  the  people  affected  thereby  the  full 
responsibility  of  their  administration.  The  differ 
ent  departments  should  be  in  such  accord  as  in 
their  operation  to  lead  toward  the  same  results. 
Divided  counsels  and  divided  responsibility  to  the 
people,  on  the  part  of  municipal  officers,  it  is 
believed,  give  rise  to  much  that  is  objectionable 
in  the  government  of  cities."  If,  to  remedy  this 
evil,  the  chief  executive  should  be  made  answer 
able  to  the  people  for  the  proper  conduct  of  the 
city's  affairs,  it  is  quite  clear  that  his  power  in  the 
selection  of  those  who  manage  its  different  depart 
ments  should  be  greatly  enlarged." 

And  again  he  said  : 

"It  is  not  only  the  right  of  the  people  to  admin 
ister  their  local  government,  but  it  should  be  made 
their  duty  to  do  so.  Any  departure  from  this 
doctrine  is  an  abandonment  of  the  principles  upon 
which  our  institutions  are  founded,  and  a  conces 
sion  of  the  infirmity  and  partial  failure  of  the 
theory  of  a  representative  form  of  government. 

"If  the  aid  of  the  Legislature  is  invoked  to 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  99 

further  projects  which  should  be  subject  to  local 
control  and  management,  suspicion  should  be  at 
once  aroused,  and  the  interference  sought  should 
be  promptly  and  sternly  refused. 

"If  local  rule  is  in  any  instance  bad,  weak  or 
inefficient,  those  who  suffer  from  maladministra 
tion  have  the  remedy  within  their  own  control. 
If,  through  their  neglect  or  inattention,  it  falls  into 
unworthy  hands,  or  if  bad  methods  and  practices 
gain  a  place  in  its  administration,  it  is  neither 
harsh  nor  unjust  to  remit  those  who  are  respon 
sible  for  those  conditions  to  their  self-invited  fate, 
until  their  interest,  if  no  better  motive,  prompts 
them  to  an  earnest  and  active  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  good  citizenship." 

The  application  of  these  principles  to  the 
affairs  of  the  cities  of  the  State  is  a  task  of  great 
difficulty.  Ever  since  the  organization  of  the 
present  political  parties,  there  has  been  a  wide 
difference  in  political  opinion  between  the  inhabit 
ants  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn  and  the  other 
parts  of  the  State.  The  cities  have  been  over 
whelmingly  Democratic  ;  the  counties  have  been 
strongly  Republican.  During  the  long  period  of 
Republican  domination  the  powers  of  the  State 
government  were  constantly  used  to  weaken  the 
Democratic  organizations  in  New  York  and 
Brooklyn  To  accomplish  this,  frequent  changes 
were  made  in  the  charters  of  the  cities.  The 
object,  generally,  was  to  secure  a  share  of  the 


IOO  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

local  offices,  and  a  part  of  what  is  called  ''party 
patronage." 

It  is  impossible  to  point  out  in  detail  the  devices 
which  were  resorted  to,  to  accomplish  these  ends, 
but  the  general  result  has  been  clear  enough. 
They  are  without  doubt  the  sources  of  many 
municipal  evils  and  the  chief  cause  of  the  failure 
of  municipal  governments.  They  have  destroyed 
the  responsibility  of  officials.  They  have  given 
opportunities  for  combination  between  the  corrupt 
men  of  both  parties.  They  have  accustomed  the 
people  to  misgovernment,  and  made  them  .sus 
picious  as  to  the  sincerity  of  those  who  proposed 
a  reform.  When  the  Democrats  had  become 
strong  enough  to  get  a  share  in  the  government 
of  the  State,  they  yet  failed  to  obtain  control  of 
the  Legislature. 

Jealousy  between  the  city  and  country  has  led 
the  Legislature,  by  an  unfair  apportionment,  to 
refuse  to  the  cities  their  just  representation. 
Therefore  a  Republican  majority  will  usually  be 
elected  to  both  branches  of  the  Legislature,  even 
when  the  State  has  gone  Democratic.  Thus  it 
has  happened,  that  only  in  two  instances  during 
the  last  twenty-five  years,  has  a  Democratic  Gov 
ernor  found  a  Democratic  Legislature.  One  of 
these  instances  was  in  1883. 

When  Governor  Cleveland  came  to  Albany  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature  were  Democratic.  It 
was,  therefore,  hoped  that  the  reforms  long  waited 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP*  ,^     J,OJ 

for  might  be  accomplished,  and  that  the  principle 
of  local  self-government  might  at  last  be  rigidly 
applied  to  the  two  great  cities.  But  meanwhile 
serious  difficulties  had  arisen  in  the  cities  them 
selves.  In  Brooklyn  Democratic  supremacy  had 
been  destroyed,  and  a  Republican  chosen  to  the 
mayoralty,  who  was  supported  by  a  considerable 
body  of  Democrats.  In  New  York  the  Democ 
racy  had  become  divided  into  two  organizations, 
both  jealous  of  each  other  and  both  striving  for 
local  control.  This  condition  of  affairs  has  pre 
vented  the  work  of  reform  from  being  accom 
plished.  As  respects  Brooklyn  much  has  been 
done  by  the  application  of  the  principle  of  local 
responsibility. 

In  New  York  great  changes  have  been  made. 
A  system  of  fees,  yielding  to  certain  officials  ex 
travagant  emoluments,  has  been  abolished,  and 
the  power  of  the  Mayor  has  been  vastly  increased. 
By  these  new  laws  the  Mayor  of  New  York  has 
been  given  a  power  almost  without  example.  He 
is,  within  his  sphere,  more  powerful  than  any  other 
official  in  the  United  States,  and  it  must  be  remem 
bered  that  the  sphere  is  not  a  narrow  one.  The 
city  government,  as  respects  the  magnitude  of  its 
operations  and  its  revenues  and  expenditures,  is 
far  more  important  than  that  of  the  State,  and  is 
second  only  to  the  Federal  Government.  In  this 
domain  the  Mayor  is  now  supreme.  He  has  an 
unrestricted  power  of  appointment  to  most  of  the 

7 


102  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

great  offices,  and  will  hold  all  departments  of  the 
government,  with  the  exception  of  the  financial 
department,  entirely  in  his  control. 

This  change  denotes  a  great  reaction  in  public 
opinion.  During  the  period  which  began  with 
Jefferson's  administration  and  ended  with  the  out 
break  of  the  Civil  War,  political  opinion  had 
demanded  a  restriction  of  executive  power.  Meas 
ures  of  reform  were  generally  measures  which 
diminished  the  function  of  the  executive  and  which 
widened  the  field  of  popular  action.  By  the  Con 
stitution  of  1847  tne  Governor  of  New  York  had 
been  shorn  of  all  his  patronage  and  most  of  his 
authority.  Offices,  both  executive  and  judicial, 
which  had  hitherto  been  filled  by  appointment  had 
been  made  elective.  A  system  of  short  terms  and 
frequent  elections  had  been  introduced.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  experience  of  more  than  half  a  century 
had  satisfied  the  people  of  their  capacity  for  self- 
government,  and  had  created  a  desire  that  there 
should  be  a  direct  government  by  the  people,  and 
as  little  as  possible  a  representative  one. 

During  the  last  ten  years,  however,  there  has 
been  a  strong  tendency  in  another  direction. 
During  that  time  the  patronage  of  the  Governor 
has  been  largely  increased.  Several  important  de 
partments  of  the  State  government  have  been  taken 
away  from  officers  elected  by  the  people,  and  given 
into  the  hands  of  officers  appointed  by  the  Gov 
ernor.  He  has  been  vested  with  the  extraordinary 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  1 03 

power  of  vetoing  items  in  the  appropriation  bills. 
The  effect  of  this  change  has  been  to  make  him  a 
part  of  the  Legislature,  so  that  his  opinion  is  fre 
quently  taken  upon  matters  involving  the  expen 
diture  of  public  moneys,  before  a  law  is  passed  or 
even  introduced. 

Meanwhile,  a  strong  distrust  of  Legislative 
bodies  has  grown  up.  This  is  shown  in  the  state 
of  public  opinion  with  reference  to  the  Legislature 
and  to  Congress.  It  would  seem  as  if  further  ex 
perience  of  our  system  had  dissatisfied  the  people 
with  a  government  based  upon  Legislative  author 
ity,  and  had  taught  them  to  trust  more  to  execu 
tives  of  their  own  choice,  invested  with  great 
powers  and  responsible  to  them  alone. 

The  question  as  to  which  is  the  better  govern 
ment,  one  in  which  the  Legislature  is  the  chief,  or 
one  in  which  the  executive  is  the  chief  is  an  old  ques 
tion.  The  one  is  parliamentary  government,  the 
other  is  a  dictatorship.  A  wise  and  patriotic  par 
liament  has  often  rendered  great  service  to  man 
kind.  An  enlightened  prince  has  sometimes  aided 
the  progress  of  our  race.  But  it  is  a  strange  con 
clusion  that  it  is  safer  for  a  free  people  to  govern 
themselves  by  dictators  periodically  chosen,  than 
by  an  open  assemblage  of  representatives  who  act 
after  deliberation  and  debate.  And  yet,  so  de 
cided  is  this  popular  distrust  of  Legislative  methods 
that  there  is  now  a  strong  pressure  brought  to 
bear,  and  even  from  many  Democratic  quarters, 


IO4  LIFE   OF    GROVER   CLEVELAND. 

in  favor  of  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  giving  to  the  President  power 
to  veto  items  in  appropriation  bills.  If  this  power 
were  given  him  he  would  have  an  authority  never 
yet  given  to  the  ruler  of  a  free  people.  If  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  addition  to 
his  power  of  appointment,  had  such  an  enormous 
veto  power,  there  would  be  little  limit  to  the 
authority  which  a  bold  and  able  man  might  exer 
cise.  Who  can  doubt  what  its  effect  would  be  ? 
It  may  be  said  that  the  United  States  has  not  yet 
suffered  from  the  ambition  of  its  public  men.  This 
source  of  social  and  political  evils,  which  in  Europe 
has  been  so  prolific,  has  never  caused  disturbance 
here.  But  the  danger  exists  here  as  well  as 
there.  The  passions  of  men  are  the  same  here. 
An  American  Democracy  cannot  safely  entrust 
unrestricted  power  to  its  rulers  any  more  than  can 
the  citizens  of  a  European  State.  Neither  would 
they  escape  the  consequences  of  a  confidence  so 
blind  and  unreasonable. 

The  change  which  has  been  made  in  the  munic 
ipal  government  of  New  York  is  in  harmony 
with  the  drift  of  public  opinion.  What  the  conse 
quences  of  that  change  are  to  be  cannot  certainly 
be  predicted,  but  there  are  many  thoughtful  men 
who  do  not  look  to  the  future  with  the  confidence 
which  must  have  inspired  those  who  brought  about 
this  remarkable  alteration  in  our  municipal  affairs. 

The  Governor's  attitude  upon  this   subject  is 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  1 05 

worthy  of  careful  attention.   His  position  was  an  em 
barrassing  one.   He  had  advised  the  Legislature  to 
give  self-government  to  the  municipalities.     The 
form  of  government,  however,  he  had  not  under 
taken  to  prescribe,  nor  is  it  probable  that  he  had 
formed  a  definite  opinion  upon  that  subject.    The 
bill  which  was  presented  to  him,  increasing  the 
power  of  the  Mayor,  was  not  one  which  he  had 
advised.     It  is  most  likely  that  when  he  came  to 
act  upon  it  he  was  largely  influenced  by  the  con 
sideration  that  the  question  of  the  proposed  change 
was  a  Legislative  question  rather  than  one  for  the 
executive  to  decide.      He  accompanied  his  signa 
ture  of  the  bill  with  a  memorandum,  giving  the 
reasons  of  his  act,  which  is,  in  many  respects,  the 
most  thoughtful  as  it  is  the  most  important  of  his 
State  papers.      His  arguments  had  a  great  effect 
upon  public  opinion,  and  seemed  to  put  an  end  to 
doubts,    which  at  the    time,    were    anxiously  ex 
pressed  in  all  parts  of  the  State.     It  is  likely,  how 
ever,  that  those  who  adhere  upon  principle  to  the 
theory  of  a  government  of  limited  powers,  a  part 
of  which  are  to  be  exercised  by  the   Legislature, 
a  part  by  the  executive,  and  a  part  by  the  judiciary, 
and  in  which  the  powers  of  each  department  shall 
be   subject  to  clearly-defined  limitations,  are  not 
convinced  that  it  is  wise  to  invest  any  public  officer 
with  an  authority  so  great  and  irresponsible  as  that 
which  after  the  ist  of  January  next  will  be  exer 
cised  by  the  Mayor  of  New  York. 


IO6  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

Instead  of  introducing  changes  as  to  which  the 
people  of  the  community  had  expressed  no  opin 
ion,  and  which  never  had  in  any  way  been  sub 
mitted  to  them  for  their  judgment,  the  Legislature, 
had  it  desired  to  follow  the  recommendations  of 
the  Governor,  might  have  passed  an  act  providing 
for  a  municipal  convention  which  should  have 
power  to  frame  a  charter,  and  for  the  submission 
of  the  charter  to  the  people.  Had  such  a  charter 
been  framed  and  accepted  the  city  of  New  York 
would  have  had  its  own  government  created  by 
itself.  If  evils  of  administration  had  followed, 
its  people  alone  would  have  been  the  sufferers.  The 
correction  of  these  evils,  if  the  power  had  been 
placed  in  their  hands,  would  have  been  brought 
about  by  natural  and  inevitable  laws,  for  if  those 
who  suffer  and  have  the  power  to  correct  public 
wrongs  will  not  do  it,  it  is  quite  certain  that  no  one 
else  can  or  will.  The  Message  of  Governor  Cleve 
land  is  given  here  at  length,  and  all  who  read  it  will 
recognize  the  candor  and  the  courage  of  its 
author  : 

"  EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER, 

"  ALBANY,  March  17,  1884. 

"The  interest  which  has  been  aroused  regard 
ing  the  merits  of  this  bill,  and  quite  a  determined 
hostility  which  has  been  developed  on  the  part  of 
those  entitled  to  respectful  consideration,  appear 
to  justify  a  brief  reference  to  the  principles  and 
purposes  which  seem  to  me  to  be  involved  in  the 


GOVERNOR'S  ROOM  IN  STATE  CAPITOL  AT  ALBANY,  N.  Y. 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  IOQ 

measure,  and  an  incidental  statement  of  the  pro 
cess  of  thought  by  which  I  have  been  led  to 
approve  the  same. 

"  The  opponents  of  the  bill  have  invoked  the 
inviolability  of  the  right  of  the  people  to  rule 
themselves,  and  have  insisted  upon  the  preserva 
tion  of  a  wise  distribution  of  power  among  the  dif 
ferent  branches  of  government ;  and  I  have  listened 
to  solemn  warning,  against  the  subversive  ten 
dency  of  the  concentration  of  power  in  municipal 
rule,  and  the  destructive  consequences  of  any 
encroachment  upon  the  people's  rights  and  pre 
rogatives. 

u  I  hope  I  have  not  entirely  misconceived  the 
scope  and  reach  of  this  bill ;  but  it  seems  to  me 
that  my  determination  as  to  whether  or  not  it 
should  become  a  law  does  not  depend  upon  the 
reverence  I  entertain  for  such  fundamental  prin 
ciples. 

"The  question  is  not  whether  certain  officers 
heretofore  elected  by  the  people  of  the  city  of  New 
York  shall,  under  the  provisions  of  a  new  law,  be 
appointed.  The  transfer  of  power  from  an  elec 
tion  by  the  people  to  an  appointment  by  other 
authority,  has  already  been  made. 

"  The  present  charter  of  the  city  provides  that 
the  mayor  '  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the 
consent  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  appoint  the 
heads  of  departments.' 

"The   bill   under    consideration   provides   that 


IIO  LIFE    OF    GROVER   CLEVELAND. 

after  the  ist  day  of  January,  1885,  'all  appoint 
ments  to  office  in  the  city  of  New  York  now  made 
by  the  Mayor  and  confirmed  by  the  Board  of  Alder 
men,  shall  be  made  by  the  Mayor  without  such 
confirmation/ 

"  The  change  proposed  is  clearly  apparent. 

"  By  the  present  charter  the  Mayor,  elected  by 
all  the  people  of  the  city,  if  a  majority  of  twenty- 
four  Aldermen  elected  by  the  voters  of  twenty- 
four  separate  districts  concur  with  him,  may  ap 
point  the  administrative  officers  who  shall  have 
charge  and  management  of  the  city  departments. 

"  The  bill  presented  for  my  action  allows  the 
Mayor  alone  to  appoint  these  officers.  This 
authority  is  not  conferred  upon  the  Mayor  now  in 
office,  who  was  chosen  without  anticipation  on  the 
part  of  the  people  who  elected  him,  that  he  should 
exercise  this  power,  but  upon  the  incoming  Mayor 
who,  after  the  passage  of  the  act,  shall  be  elected 
with  the  full  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  people, 
at  the  time  they  cast  their  votes,  that  they  are  con 
stituting  an  agent  to  act  for  them  in  the  selection 
of  certain  other  city  officers. 

"This  selection  under  either  statute  is  dele 
gated  by  the  people.  In  the  one  case  it  is  exer 
cised  by  the  chief  executive  acting  with  twenty- 
four  officers  representing  as  many  different 
sections  of  the  municipality  ;  in  the  other  by  the 
chief  executive  alone. 

"I  cannot  see  that  any  principle  of  Democratic 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  I  I  I 

rule  is  more  violated  in  the  one  case  than  in  the 
other.  It  appears  to  be  a  mere  change  of  instru 
mentalities. 

"  It  will  hardly  do  to  say  that  because  the  Alder 
men  are  elected  annually,  and  the  Mayor  every 
two  years,  that  the  former  are  nearer  the  people 
and  more  especially  their  representatives.  The 
difference  in  their  terms  is  not  sufficient  to  make 
a  distinction  in  their  direct  relation  to  the  citizen. 

"Nor  are  the  rights  of  the  people  to  self-gov 
ernment  in  theory  and  principal,  better  protected 
when  the  power  of  appointment  is  vested  in 
twenty-five  men,  twenty-four  of  whom  are  respon 
sible  only  to  their  constituents  in  their  respective 
districts,  than  when  this  power  is  put  in  the  hands 
of  one  man  elected  by  all  the  people  of  the 
municipality  with  particular  reference  to  the  exer 
cise  of  such  power.  Indeed  in  the  present  condi 
tion  of  affairs,  if  disagreement  arises  between  the 
Mayor  and  the  Aldermen,  the  selection  of  officers 
by  the  representative  of  all  the  people,  might  be 
defeated  by  the  adverse  action  of  thirteen  repre 
sentatives  of  thirteen  aldermanic  districts.  And 
it  is  perfectly  apparent  that  these  thirteen  might, 
and  often  would,  represent  a  decided  minority  of 
the  people  of  the  municipality. 

"It  cannot  be  claimed  that  an  arrangement 
which  permits  such  a  result  is  pre-eminently  dem 
ocratic. 

"It  has  been  urged  that  the  proposed  change 


I  I  2  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

is  opposed  to  the  principle  of  home  rule.  If  it  is 
intended  to  claim  that  the  officers,  the  creation  of 
which  is  provided  for,  should  be  elected,  it  has  no 
relevancy  ;  for  that  question  is  not  in  any  manner 
presented  for  my  determination.  And  it  surely 
cannot  be  said  that  the  doctrine  of  home  rule  pre 
vents  any  change  by  the  Legislature  of  the 
organic  law  of  municipalities.  The  people  of  the 
city  cannot  themselves  make  such  change  ;  and  if 
Legislative  aid  cannot  be  invoked  to  that  end,  it 
follows  that  abuses,  flagrant  and  increasing  must 
be  continued,  and  existing  charter  provisions,  the 
inadequacy  of  which  for  the  protection  and  pros 
perity  of  the  people  is  freely  admitted,  must  be 
perpetuated.  It  is  the  interference  of  the  Legis 
lature  with  the  administration  of  municipal  gov 
ernment,  by  agencies  arbitrarily  created  by  legis 
lative  enactment,  and  the  assumption  by  the  law- 
making  power  of  the  State,  of  the  rights  to  regu 
late  such  details  of  city  government  as  are  or 
should  be  under  the  supervision  of  local  authori 
ties,  that  should  be  condemned  as  a  violation  of 
the  doctrine  of  home  rule. 

"  In  any  event  I  am  convinced  that  I  should  not 
disapprove  the  bill  before  me  on  the  ground  that 
it  violates  any  principle  which  is  now  recognized 
and  exemplified  in  the  government  of  the  city  of 
New  York. 

"I  am  also  satisfied  that  as  between  the  system 
now  prevailing  and  that  proposed,  expediency 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  I  1 3 

and  a  close  regard  to  improved  municipal  admin 
istration  lead  to  my  approval  of  the  measure. 

"If  the  chief  executive  of  the  city  is  to  be  held 
responsible  for  its  order  and  good  government, 
he  should  not  be  hampered  by  any  interference 
with  his  selection  of  subordinate  administrative 
officers ;  nor  should  he  be  permitted  to  find  in  a 
divided  responsibility  an  excuse  for  any  neglect 
of  the  best  interests  of  the  people. 

"The  plea  should  never  be  heard  that  a  bad 
nomination  had  been  made  because  it  was  the 
only  one  that  could  secure  confirmation. 

"No  instance  has  been  cited  in  which  a  bad 
appointment  has  been  prevented,  by  the  refusal 
of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  of  the  city  of  New 
York  to  confirm  a  nomination. 

"An  absolute  and  undivided  responsibility  on 
the  part  of  the  appointing  power  accords  with 
correct  business  principles,  the  application  of 
which  to  public  affairs  will  always,  I  believe,  direct 
the  way  to  good  administration  and  the  protection 
of  the  people's  interests. 

"The  intelligence  and  watchfulness  of  the 
citizens  of  New  York,  should  certainly  furnish  a 
safe  guarantee  that  the  duties  and  powers  devolved 
by  this  legislation  upon  their  chosen  representa 
tive,  will  be  well  and  wisely  bestowed  ;  and  if 
they  err  or  are  betrayed,  their  remedy  is  close  at 
hand. 

"I  can  hardly  realize  the  unprincipled  boldness 


I  1 4  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

of  the  man  who  would  accept  at  the  hands  of  his 
neighbors  this  sacred  trust,  and  standing  alone  in 
the  full  light  of  public  observation,  should  willfully 
prostitute  his  powers  and  defy  the  will  of  the 
people. 

""To  say  that  such  a  man  could  by  such  means 
perpetuate  his  wicked  rule,  concedes  either  that 
the  people  are  vile  or  that  self-government  is  a 
deplorable  failure. 

"It  is  claimed  that  because  some  of  these 
appointees  become  members  of  the  Board  of 
Estimate  and  Apportionment,  which  determines 
very  largely  the  amount  of  taxation,  therefore  the 
power  to  select  them  should  not  be  given  to  the 
Mayor.  If  the  question  presented  was  whether 
officials  having  such  important  duties  and  func 
tions  should  be  elected  by  the  people  or  appointed, 
such  a  consideration  might  well  be  urged  in  favor 
of  their  election.  But  they  are  now  appointed, 
and  they  will  remain  appointive  whether  the  pro 
posed  bill  should  be  rejected  or  approved.  This 
being  the  situation,  the  importance  of  the  duties 
to  be  performed  by  these  officials,  has  to  do  with 
the  care  to  be  exercised  in  their  selection,  rather 
than  the  choice  between  the  two  modes  of  appoint 
ment  which  are  under  consideration. 

"For  some  time  prior  to  the  year  1872,  these 
appointments  were  made  by  the  mayor  without 
confirmation,  as  is  contemplated  by  the  bill  now 
before  me.  In  that  year  a  measure  passed  the 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  I  I  5 

Legislature  giving  the  power  of  appointment  to 
the  Common  Council.  The  chief  executive  of 
the  State  at  that  time  was  a  careful  and  thorough 
student  of  municipal  affairs,  having  large  and 
varied  experience  in  public  life.  He  refused  to 
approve  the  bill,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  a 
departure  from  the  principle  which  should  be 
applied  to  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the 
city  and  for  the  reason  that  the  Mayor  should  be 
permitted  to  appoint  the  subordinate  administra 
tive  officers  without  the  interference  of  any  other 
authority. 

"This  reference  to  the  treatment  of  the  subject 
by  one  of  my  distinguished  predecessors  in  office, 
affords  me  the  opportunity  to  quote  from  his  able 
and  vigorous  veto  message  which  he  sent  to  the 
Legislature  on  that  occasion.  He  said: 

'"Nowhere  on  this  continent  is  it  so  essentially 
a  condition  of  good  government  as  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  that  the  chief  executive  officer  should 
be  clothed  with  ample  powers,  have  full  control 
over  subordinate  administrative  departments,  and 
so  be  subject  to  an  undivided  responsibility  to 
the  people  and  to  public  opinion  for  all  errors, 
short  comings  and  wrong  doings  by  subordinate 
officers.' 

"He  also  said: 

"'Give  to  the  city  a  chief  executive,  with  full 
power  to  appoint  all  heads  of  administrative  depart 
ments.  Let  him  have  power  to  remove  his 


I  1 6  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

subordinates,  being  required  to  publicly  assign  his 
reason.' 

"He  further  declared: 

" '  The  members  of  the  Common  Council,  in  New 
York,  will  exert  all  the  influence  over  appoint 
ments  which  is  consistent  with  the  public  good, 
without  having  the  legal  power  of  appointment, 
or  any  part  of  it,  vested  in  their  hands.' 

"In  1876,  after  four  added  years  of  reflection 
and  observation,  he  said,  in  a  public  address,  when 
suggesting  a  scheme  of  municipal  government: 

"'Have,  therefore,  no  provision  in  your  charter 
requiring  the  consent  of  the  Common  Council  to 
the  Mayor's  appointments  of  heads  of  depart 
ments  ;  that  only  opens  the  way  for  dictation  by 
the  Council  or  for  bargains.  This  is  not  the  way 
to  get  good  men  nor  to  fix  the  full  responsibility 
for  maladministration  upon  the  people's  chosen 
prime  minister.' 

"These  are  the  utterances  of  one  who,  during 
two  terms  had  been  Mayor  of  the  City  of  New 
York  and  for  two  terms  Recorder  of  that  city; 
and  who  for  four  years  had  been  Governor  of  the 
State. 

"No  testimony,  it  seems  to  me,  could  be  more 
satisfactory  and  convincing. 

"It  is  objected  that  this  bill  does  not  go  far 
enough,  and  that  there  should  be  a  re-arrange 
ment  of  the  terms  of  these  officers  ;  also  that  some 
of  them  should  be  made  elective.  This  is  undoubt- 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  I  I  7 

edly  true ;  and  I  shall  be  glad  to  approve  further 
judicious  legislation  supplementary  to  this,  which 
shall  make  the  change  more  valuable  and  surround 
it  with  safeguards  in  the  interests  of  the  citizens. 
But  such  further  legislation  should  be  well  digested 
and  conservative,  and,  above  all,  not  proposed  for 
the  purpose  of  gaining  a  mere  partisan  advantage. 

"I  have  not  referred  to  the  pernicious  practices 
which  the  present  mode  of  making  appointments 
in  the  City  of  New  York  engenders,  nor  in  the 
constantly  recurring  bad  results  for  which  it  is 
responsible.  They  are  in  the  plain  sight  of  every 
citizen  of  the  State. 

"I  believe  the  change  made  by  the  provisions 
of  this  bill  gives  opportunity  for  an  improvement 
in  the  administration  of  municipal  affairs  ;  and  I 
am  satisfied  that  the  measure  violates  no  right  of 
the  people  of  the  locality  affected,  which  they  now 
enjoy.  But  the  best  opportunities  will  be  lost 
and  the  most  perfect  plan  of  city  government  will 
fail,  unless  the  people  recognize  their  respon 
sibilities  and  appreciate  and  realize  the  privileges 
and  duties  of  citizenship.  With  the  most  carefully 
devised  charter,  and  with  all  the  protection  which 
legislative  enactments  can  afford  them,  the  people 
of  the  City  of  New  York  will  not  secure  a  wise 
and  economical  rule  until  those  having  the  most 
at  stake  determine  to  actively  interest  themselves 
in  the  conduct  of  municipal  affairs. 

"  GROVER  CLEVELAND." 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE    GOVERNORSHIP. 

SECOND   MESSAGE    AND    GENERAL   OFFICIAL   COURSE. 

WHEN  Governor  Cleveland  had  parted  with 
his  first  legislature,  public  opinion  with  reference 
to  him  had  undergone  a  great  change.  He  was 
no  longer  an  unknown  nor  an  untried  man.  He 
had,  of  course,  displeased  many  people.  His 
action  both  in  vetoing  and  signing  bills  had 
affected  important  interests,  and  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  escape  criticism.  There  can,  however, 
be  no  doubt  that  the  general  judgment  of  dis 
interested  people  was  favorable  to  him,  and  he 
was  recognized  by  all  as  a  firm  and  courageous 
man  who  took  great  pains  to  find  his  duty,  who 
came  to  his  conclusions  deliberately,  and  acted 
upon  them  without  fear. 

So  industrious  a  governor  had  never  been  seen 
in  Albany.  No  hard-working  lawyer  has  ever 
devoted  himself  to  business  with  an  industry 
greater  than  he  had  shown  in  doing  the  public's 
work.  He  came  to  his  room  in  the  capitol  at  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  he  seldom  left  it, 
except  to  take  his  meals,  before  midnight.  He 
examined  every  bill  with  a  close  and  critical 

118 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  I  19 

attention,  nor  ever  decided  upon  one  with  whose 
provisions  he  was  not  perfectly  familiar.  The 
same  care  was  taken  with  all  other  official  acts. 
The  result  has  been  not  only  an  excellent  per 
formance  of  the  public  service,  but  the  Governor 
has,  himself,  received  a  severe  discipline  and  a 
wide  education  from  his  labors.  His  second 
annual  message  is  a  thorough  and  able  docu 
ment,  and  shows  that  he  had  made  himself  famil 
iar  with  the  concerns  of  all  departments  of  the 
State  government,  and  was  able  to  present 
important  suggestions  for  the  increase  of  their 
efficiency. 

To  every  department  he  had  given  a  proper 
share  of  his  time,  thought  and  attention. 

The  building  of  a  new  capitol  has  been  a  work 
of  great  embarrassment.  It  was  begun  under 
the  expectation  that  it  could  be  built  for  about 
four  million  dollars.  It  is  not  yet  finished  and 
has  cost  sixteen  millions.  For  a  long  time  it  was 
in  charge  of  a  commission  appointed  by  the  Gov 
ernor  and  Senate.  In  1865  the  constitution  of 
the  commission  was  changed,  and  the  duties  of 
Capitol  Commissioner  was  devolved  upon  three  of 
the  State  officers,  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  the 
Attorney-General  and  the  Auditor  of  the  Canal 
Department.  A  change  of  administration  had 
led  to  a  change  of  plan,  but  no  changes  had 
brought  about  any  diminution  of  cost.  Nor  was 
that  possible  in  view  of  the  scale  upon  which  the 

8 


I2O  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

building  had  been  begun.  Unlike  most  of  his 
predecessors,  Governor  Cleveland  at  once 
evinced  a  great  interest  in  this  work.  He 
expressed  a  desire  that  it  should  be  completed 
during  his  term  ;  that  the  delays  which  had  been 
frequent  should  no  longer  be  permitted,  and  that 
the  appropriations  should  be  sufficient  to  carry  it 
continuously  forward.  He  was  willing  to  become, 
himself,  directly  responsible  for  it.  Accordingly, 
he  assented  to  a  radical  change  in  the  administra 
tion  of  the  building  by  which  future  construction 
was  placed  under  the  charge  of  a  single  commis 
sioner. 

The  insane  asylums  and  the  other  charitable 
institutions  have  had  the  advantage  of  his  watch 
fulness  and  care.  He  has  insisted  upon  economy 
in  expenditures,  but  he  has  constantly  shown  that 
he  has  taken  a  personal  as  well  as  an  official 
interest  in  their  welfare. 

The  National  Guard  of  New  York  has  long 
been  a  subject  of  importance  to  the  Common 
wealth.  It  has  been  brought  to  a  state  of 
discipline  quite  unusual,  and  may  be  favorably 
compared  with  any  body  of  volunteer  soldiery. 
From  the  first,  Governor  Cleveland  showed  great 
interest  in  the  organization.  He  selected  his  staff 
with  an  express  reference  to  the  promotion  of  its 
efficiency,  and  he  has  given  a  very  unusual  amount 
of  his  time  and  attention  to  its  affairs. 

He  approved  two  measures  relating  to  the  sol- 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  121 


diers  of  the  late  war.  By  one  of  these  acts  Union 
soldiers  and  sailors  are  given  preference  for 
employment  upon  the  public  works.  By  another, 
provision  is  made  for  the  completion  of  the 
records  of  the  New  York  volunteers  during  the 
war,  and  for  their  safe  keeping. 

In  a  community  so  large  as  New  York,  and  con 
taining  so  many  great  cities,  the  pardoning  power 
becomes  one  of  the  governor's  most  important 
prerogatives.  During  Governor  Cleveland's  term 
this  power  has  been  exercised  with  extraordinary 
thoughtfulness  and  discretion.  It  is  impossible 
here  to  present  the  details  of  his  action  in  the 
performance  of  this  duty,  but  any  one  who 
chooses  to  examine  the  memorandum  which  always 
accompanies  a  pardon  will  find  that  every  case 
has  been  thoroughly  examined,  and  that  his 
opinion  has  been  formed  after  judicially  consider 
ing  all  the  facts  and  circumstances. 

So,  too,  in  the  performance  of  the  more  painful 
duty  of  deciding  upon  charges  against  public  offi 
cers,  the  Governor  has  a  considerable  power  of 
removal.  This  power  applies  to  sheriffs,  district 
attorneys,  and  some  other  officials.  He  has 
always  exercised  it  after  great  deliberation  and  in 
a  way  which  showed  a  strong  sense  of  public  duty. 
A  remarkable  instance  was  the  case  of  the  District 
Attorney  of  Queens  County,  against  whom  charges 
had  been  made  of  malfeasance  in  office.  It  is  not 
in  any  way  important  here  to  recite  these  charges. 


122  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

The  most  interesting  matter  connected  with  this 
subject  is  the  time  and  manner  of  the  Governor's 
action.  An  election  was  pending,  and  the  accused 
officer  had  been  nominated  by  the  Democrats  for 
the  State  Senate.  If  he  were  removed  from  office 
it  was  quite  clear  that  his  Republican  opponent 
would  be  elected.  The  Governor,  however,  did 
not  hesitate  to  act  by  reason  of  these  political 
considerations,  and  having  made  up  his  mind,  he 
issued  the  order  of  removal  on  the  2Qth  of  Octo 
ber,  about  one  week  before  the  election. 

Among  the  measures  passed  during  his  first 
winter  was  an  Act  providing  for  the  appointment 
of  a  Commission  to  select  and  set-apart  such  lands 
as  might  be  found  to  be  necessary  for  the  preser 
vation  of  the  scenery  at  Niagara  Falls.  All  the 
islands  immediately  above  the  falls,  and  the  lands 
upon  the  main  shore,  had  early  in  the  century 
been  sold  to  private  citizens.  Some  of  them  have 
been  devoted  to  manufacturing  purposes,  the 
forests  upon  the  main  land  have  been  cut  down, 
and  a  process  of  deterioration  has  begun,  which, 
if  continued,  will  soon  destroy  the  charm  and 
interest  which  Niagara  has  had,  as  an  object  of 
natural  beauty  and  sublimity. 

It  had  been  some  time  in  contemplation  to  pre 
serve  Niagara  by  creating  a  State  reservation,  by 
removing  unsightly  constructions  and  restoring, 
so  far  as  practicable,  the  scenery  to  its  original 
character.  The  efforts  in  this  direction  had  been 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  123 

thwarted  by  the  action  of  Governor  Cornell,  who 
had  indicated  that  if  the  proposed  measure  were 
passed,  he  would  refuse  to  sign  it.  Governor 
Cleveland,  however,  showed  a  generous  disposi 
tion  to  the  undertaking,  and  encouraged  the  pas 
sage  of  the  bill.  The  final  step  for  the  completion 
of  this  work  will  probably  be  taken  at  the  next 
session  of  the  Legislature,  and  if  the  recommend 
ations  of  the  Commissioners  are  approved,  Gov 
ernor  Cleveland's  administration  will  have  won  the 
regard  of  the  lovers  of  nature  in  all  parts  of  the 
world. 

One  important  function  which  Governor  Cleve 
land  has  exercised,  may  be  said  to  be  original 
with  himself,  and  is  shown  in  the  frequency  with 
which  he  has  returned  defective  measures  to  the 
Legislature  for  correction.  It  cannot  be  said  that 
this  had  not  been  done  before  but  it  had  never 
been  done  so  often  nor  with  such  thoroughness. 
It  was  his  custom,  when  examining  bills  which 
were  presented  to  him  for  signature,  not  only  to 
consider  whether  they  were  constitutional  or  not, 
but  to  carefully  determine  whether  they  accom 
plished  the  objects  for  which  they  were  intended, 
and  also  whether  their  provisions  could  not  be 
improved.  He  has  frequently  returned  defective 
bills  to  the  Legislature  with  an  elaborate  commu 
nication  not  only  pointing  out  defects  but  explain 
ing  how  they  could  be  remedied.  This  work 
devolved  upon  him  a  great  labor,  but  has  been  of 


124  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

high  value  to  the  State.  Defects  in  the  drawing 
of  laws  are  a  source  of  constant  difficulty,  and  of 
litigations  which  occupy  a  large  part  of  the  time 
of  the  courts. 

Among  the  important  measures  which  he  was 
unable  to  sign  on  account  of  the  defective 
condition  in  which  it  came  to  him,  was  what  has 
been  known  as  The  Tenure  of  Office  Bill,  being 
an  Act  fixing  and  regulating  the  terms  of  office 
of  certain  public  officers  in  the  City  of  New  York. 
The  reasons  which  the  Governor  gave  for  vetoing 
this  measure  were  so  conclusive  that  the  author 
of  the  bill  heartily  approved  of  the  Governor's 
action,  which  was  also  commended  by  the  journals 
in  New  York,  which  had  at  first  expressed  dissat 
isfaction  with  his  action. 

When  Governor  Cleveland  entered  upon  his 
office  he  was  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  a 
reform  in  the  Civil  Service,  especially  as  to  the 
selection  of  subordinate  officers.  The  Demo 
cratic  party  in  New  York  had  been  committed  to 
this  policy  by  declarations  repeatedly  made  by  its 
State  Conventions.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
Democratic  Legislature  of  1883  was  the  passage 
of  a  bill  establishing  a  Board  of  Civil  Service 
Commissioners,  who  were  to  devise  a  system  for 
the  reform  of  the  service,  not  only  in  the  depart 
ments  of  the  State  government,  but  also  in  the 
municipalities  of  the  State.  The  Commission 
was  made  up  by  the  appointment  of  John  Jay, 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  125 

Augustus  Schoonmakerand  Henry  A.  Richmond. 
This  system  has  been  put  in  operation  in  respect 
to  all  State  officers  and  institutions. 

The  Adirondack  wilderness  stretches  over  a 
mountainous  region  about  one  hundred  miles  in 
length  and  sixty  in  width,  in  the  northeastern 
corner  of  the  State.  This  country  was,  until 
lately,  in  its  primeval  state  ;  its  forests  were  full 
of  game,  and  its  beautiful  lakes  and  rivers 
abounded  with  fish.  It  was  the  occasional  resort 
of  adventurous  travelers.  But  twenty  years  ago 
a  journey  into  the  Adirondacks  was  in  the  nature 
of  an  exploration,  and  was  undertaken  only  by 
those  who  were  willing  to  endure  some  hardships 
and  to  encounter  some  dangers. 

These  conditions  have  lately  changed.  The 
mountains  have  been  made  accessible,  and  are 
now  resorted  to  by  crowds  of  summer  tourists, 
and  hotels  have  been  built  upon  the  principal 
lakes.  The  State  has,  from  time  to  time,  sold 
many  of  the  lands,  and  the  forests  have  been  cut 
off  from  large  areas.  The  great  rivers  of  the 
State  take  their  rise  in  this  region, — the  Hud 
son,  the  Mohawk  and  the  Black  River.  Their 
waters  supply  the  Erie  Canal  and  the  upper 
channels  of  the  Hudson,  and  are  essential  to  the 
commerce  of  the  State.  The  rapid  destruction 
of  the  northern  woods  endangers  the  water 
courses  by  exposing  them  to  disastrous  inunda 
tions  and  to  protracted  droughts.  Plans  for  the 


126  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

preservation  of  the  forests  have  been  much  dis 
cussed  by  the  public  press  and  by  the  New  York 
Chambers  of  Commerce  and  other  public  bodies. 

In  his  second  message  the  Governor  treated 
this  subject  at  length,  and  under  his  inspiration 
the  Legislature  has  taken  cautious  action,  and  a 
Commission  of  Inquiry  has  been  appointed. 

No  thoughtful  person,  who  has  read  this  brief 
summary  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  career  as  Governor, 
will  fail  to  notice  how  he  has  grown  with  time 
and  the  occasion.  The  hand  which  took  the 
reins  of  power  hesitatingly  has  become  accus 
tomed  to  them,  and  now  holds  them  in  a  firm  and 
skillful  grasp. 

A  speech  which  the  Governor  made  at  the  Albany 
High  School  contains  some  observations  which 
must  have  been  derived  from  his  own  experience. 
It  is  here  given  both  as  an  expression  of  his  opin 
ions  upon  important  subjects,  and  by  reason  of 
its  biographical  value.  He  said  : 

"  I  accepted  the  invitation  of  your  principal  to  visit 
your  school  this  morning  with  pleasure,  because  I 
expected  to  see  much  that  would  gratify  and  interest  me. 
In  this  I  have  not  been  disappointed.  But  I  must  con 
fess  that  if  I  had  known  that  my  visit  here  involved  my 
attempting  to  address  you,  I  should  have  hesitated,  and 
quite  likely  have  declined  the  invitation. 

"  I  hasten  to  assure  you  now  that  there  is  not  the 
slightest  danger  of  my  inflicting  a  speech  upon  you,  and 
that  I  shall  do  but  little  more  than  to  express  my  pleasure 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  I2/ 

in  the  proof  I  have  of  the  excellence  of  the  methods  and 
management  of  the  school,  and  of  the  opportunities 
which  those  who  attend  have  within  their  reach  of 
obtaining  a  superior  education. 

"  I  never  visit  a  school  in  these  days  without  contrast 
ing  the  advantages  of  the  scholar  of  to-day  with  those  of 
a  time  not  many  years  in  the  past.  Within  my  remem 
brance  even,  the  education  which  is  freely  offered  you 
was  only  secured  by  those  whose  parents  were  able  to 
send  them  to  academies  and  colleges.  And  thus,  when 
you  entered  this  school  very  many  of  you  began  where 
your  parents  left  off. 

"  The  theory  of  the  State  in  furnishing  more  and  better 
schools  for  the  children,  is  that  it  tends  to  fit  them  to 
better  perform  their  duties  as  citizens,  and  that  an 
educated  man  or  woman  is  apt  to  be  more  useful  as  a 
member  of  the  community. 

"  This  leads  to  the  thought  that  those  who  avail  them 
selves  of  the  means  thus  tendered  them  are  in  duty 
bound  to  make  such  use  of  their  advantages  as  that  the 
State  shall  receive  in  return  the  educated  and  intelligent 
citizens  and  members  of  the  community  which  it  has  the 
right  to  expect  from  its  schools.  You,  who  will  soon  be 
the  men  of  the  day,  should  consider  that  you  have 
assumed  an  obligation  to  fit  yourselves  by  the  education, 
which  you  may,  if  you  will,  receive  in  this  school,  for  the 
proper  performance  of  any  duty  of  citizenship,  and  to 
fill  any  public  station  to  which  you  may  be  called.  And 
it  seems  to  me  to  be  none  the  less  important  that  those 
who  are  to  be  the  wives  and  mothers  should  be  educated, 
refined  and  intelligent.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  should  be 
afraid  to  trust  the  men,  educated  though  they  should  be, 
if  they  were  not  surrounded  by  pure  and  true  woman- 


128  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

hood.  Thus  it  is  that  you  all,  now  and  here,  from  the 
oldest  to  the  youngest,  owe  a  duty  to  the  State  which  can 
only  be  answered  by  diligent  study  and  the  greatest 
possible  improvement.  It  is  too  often  the  case  that  in 
all  walks  and  places  the  disposition  is  to  render  the  least 
possible  return  to  the  State  for  the  favors  which  she 
bestows. 

"  If  the  consideration  which  I  have  mentioned  fails  to 
impress  you,  let  me  remind  you  of  what  you  have  often 
heard,  that  you  owe  it  to  yourselves  and  the  important 
part  of  yourselves  to  seize,  while  you  may,  the  oppor 
tunities  to  improve  your  minds,  and  store  into  them,  for 
your  own  future  use  and  advantage,  the  learning  and 
knowledge  now  fairly  within  your  reach. 

"  None  of  you  desire  or  expect  to  be  less  intelligent  or 
educated  than  your  fellows.  But  unless  the  notions  of 
scholars  have  changed,  there  may  be  those  among  you 
who  think  that  in  some  way  or  manner,  after  the  school 
day  is  over,  there  will  be  an  opportunity  to  regain  any 
ground  now  lost,  and  to  complete  an  education  without 
a  present  devotion  to  school  requirements.  I  am  sure 
this  is  a  mistake.  A  moment's  reflection  ought  to  con 
vince  all  of  you  that  when  you  have  once  entered  upon 
the  stern,  uncompromising  and  unrelenting  duties  of 
mature  life,  there  will  be  no  time  for  study.  You  will 
have  a  contest  then  forced  upon  you  which  will  strain 
every  nerve  and  engross  every  faculty.  A  good  educa 
tion,  if  you  have  it,  will  aid  you,  but  if  you  are  without 
it,  you  cannot  stop  to  acquire  it.  When  you  leave  the 
school  you  are  well  equipped  for  the  van  in  the  army 
of  life,  or  you  are  doomed  to  be  a  laggard,  aimlessly  and 
listlessly  following  in  the  rear. 

"  Perhaps  a  reference  to  truths  so  trite  is  useless  here. 


THE    GOVERNORSHIP.  I2Q 

I  hope  it  is.  But  I  have  not  been  able  to  forego  the 
chance  to  assure  those  who  are  hard  at  work  that  they 
will  surely  see  their  compensation,  and  those,  if  any  such 
there  are,  who  find  school  duties  irksome,  and  neglect  or 
slightingly  perform  them,  that  they  are  trifling  with  serious 
things  and  treading  on  dangerous  ground." 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    PRESIDENTIAL    NOMINATION. 

DEMOCRATIC    CANDIDATES,    MCDONALD,    RANDALL,    THURMAN,    MORRISON, 
CARLISLE,    FIELD,    BAYARD. 

IT  was  inevitable  that  immediately  after  his 
election  men  should  begin  to  consider  Governor 
Cleveland  as  a  probable  candidate  for  the  Presi 
dency.  There  are  powerful  circumstances  which 
always  tend  to  the  nomination  of  a  New  Yorker 
by  the  Democratic  National  Convention.  As  long 
as  the  party  is  out  of  power  these  influences  are 
likely  to  control.  The  vote  of  the  State  in  the 
electoral  college  is  necessary  to  success,  and  the 
wealth  of  the  State  must  be  relied  upon  to  pro 
vide  for  the  expenses  of  a  campaign.  It  has 
happened,  therefore,  that  since  1860  all  the 
Democratic  candidates  for  the  Presidency,  except 
one,  have  been  New  Yorkers,  or  residents  of 
New  York.  For  these  reasons  it  is  hardly  pos 
sible  for  any  one  to  come  into  special  prominence 
in  the  politics  of  the  State  without  being  looked 
upon  as  a  presidential  possibility.  This  was 
particularly  so  when  a  citizen  came  into  the  gov 
ernorship  by  a  majority  of  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand. 
130 


THE    PRESIDENTIAL    NOMINATION. 

The  Governorship  of  New  York  had  before 
been  the  theatre  where  great  national  reputation 
was  won.  In  that  office  Horatio  Seymour  had 
gained  a  fame  wider  and  more  tenderly  cherished 
than  any  Democrat  of  his  time.  He  had  never 
held  any  federal  employment  whatever.  All  his 
public  life  had  been  passed  in  the  service  of  the 
State,  and  two  terms  as  governor  had  made  him 
the  leader  of  his  party,  the  recognized  advocate 
of  its  cause,  and,  in  1868,  its  nominee  for  Presi 
dent 

In  the  Governorship,  Samuel  J.  Tilden  had 
made  himself  the  most  influential  public  man  of 
the  day.  He  took  office  during  General  Grant's 
second  term  at  a  time  when  public  thought  was 
given  to  federal  affairs,  and  when  Washington 
was  the  centre  of  political  activities.  Within  six 
months  after  Governor  Tilclen  came  to  Albany, 
that  city  had  become  the  political  centre,  and  he 
the  most  prominent  man  in  public  life.  His 
ingenious,  fertile  and  subtle  intellect  soon  devised 
interesting  and  far-reaching  policies  most  attrac 
tive  to  thoughtful  men,  especially  to  those  who 
were  influenced  by  the  existing  discontents,  who 
sought  a  reform  in  the  administration  of  affairs 
and  aspired  to  higher  and  more  intellectual 
political  life.  His  career  at  Albany  brought  him 
a  triumphant  nomination  to  the  Presidency,  and 
carried  him  successfully  through  one  of  the  most 
vehement  contests  ever  known  in  this  country. 


132  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

The  fraudulent  devices  by  which  the  will  of  the 
people  was  defeated  had  indeed  deprived  him  of 
the  office  to  which  he  had  been  chosen,  but  had 
brought  to  him  a  great  accession  of  strength  in 
the  popular  sympathy  and  respect.  The  state  of 
his  health  had  prevented  him  from  accepting  a 
re-nomination  in  1880,  but  during  the  past  year 
there  arose  a  demand,  quite  universal,  for  his 
nomination  in  1884.  All  obstacles  created  by 
personal  hostilities,  all  jealousies,  all  aspirations 
of  rivals,  and  all  interests  of  locality  disappeared 
before  this  vehement  and  commanding  opinion. 
Had  he  been  permitted  to  yield  to  the  popular 
wish,  he  would  have  been  nominated  by  his  party 
without  a  ballot,  and  with  a  unanimity  not  seen  in 
our  history  since  the  second  administration  of 
Jackson.  But  it  had  long  been  known  to  intimate 
friends  that  the  resolve  of  1880  was  unchanged, 
and  that  his  health  would  not  permit  him  to  take 
an  office  the  duties  of  which  are  so  onerous  and 
exacting.  It  was  known  therefore,  at  least  to  the 
better  instructed  public  men  in  New  York,  that 
Governor  Tilden  would  not  be  a  candidate.  His 
candidacy  was  not  an  obstacle  to  any  other 
aspirant.  This  was  not,  however,  generally 
believed  by  the  people  and  even  up  to  within 
a  few  weeks  before  the  Convention  the  belief  was 
common  that  Mr.  Tilden  would  accept  the  nom 
ination,  and  many  delegates  to  the  National  Con 
vention  were  chosen  as  his  supporters. 


THE    PRESIDENTIAL    NOMINATION.  135 

It  was  by  no  means  clear  to  the  politicians  of 
New  York  what  should  be  done.  Difficulties  had 
arisen  in  the  way  of  Governor  Cleveland's  nom 
ination.  In  1863  the  Republicans  had  elected 
one  of  their  candidates  on  the  State  ticket.  Mr. 
Purcell,  the  editor  of  the  Rochester  Union,  had 
been  the  Democratic  candidate  for  Secretary  of 
State  in  1881  and  had  been  defeated  with  the  rest 
of  the  ticket,  all  the  Democratic  nominees  having 
also  been  defeated,  except  one.  In  1883  he  was 
again  a  candidate,  but  his  renomination  was 
opposed  and  defeated  by  those  who  were  sup 
posed  to  have  acted  in  accordance  with  the  wishes 
of  the  Governor.  This  incident  produced  a  con 
siderable  discontent,  which  showed  itself  at  the 
election  by  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Maynard,  who  had 
been  nominated  in  place  of  Mr.  Purcell.  All  the 
other  Democratic  candidates  were  elected,  but 
both  branches  of  the  Legislature  were  lost. 

This  untoward  event  the  first  year  of  Mr. 
Cleveland's  governorship,  was  considered  by 
many  as  most  ominous,  and  as  putting  him  out  of 
the  question  as  a  Presidential  candidate.  But  as 
time  advanced  and  the  meeting  of  another  Legis 
lature  again  brought  his  official  acts  to  the  public 
notice  and  consideration  the  adverse  opinions 
seemed  to  diminish. 

Mr.  Roswell  P.  Flower,  his  rival  for  the  Gov 
ernorship,  came  openly  forward  as  a  Presidential 
candidate  in  all  parts  of  the  State.  Even  before 


136  LIFE   OF    GROVER   CLEVELAND. 

the  State  Committee  had  issued  its  call  for  a  Con 
vention,  constituencies  began  to  elect  delegates 
in  Mr.  Flower's  interest.  General  Slocum  was 
also  spoken  of,  but  his  name  soon  came  to  be 
more  frequently  associated  with  the  Vice-Pres 
idency,  for  which  he  would  doubtless  have  been 
nominated  had  a  western  man  been  chosen  for  the 
first  place.  Mr.  Abram  S.  Hewitt  was  also  con 
sidered,  and  there  were  many  reasons  which 
favored  his  selection.  There  are  few  men  in  the 
public  life  of  the  country,  who  equal  him  in  attain 
ments,  and  in  the  variety  and  value  of  his  services. 
But  the  opinion  of  the  State  steadily  tended 
towards  Governor  Cleveland,  with  a  daily  increas 
ing  strength,  retarded  mainly  by  the  doubts  which 
existed  as  to  Mr.  Tilden's  intentions. 

During  all  this  time,  Governor  Cleveland  occu 
pied  a  passive  attitude.  He  took  no  steps  what 
ever  to  promote  his  nomination.  To  those  who 
approached  him,  even  his  most  intimate  friends, 
he  was  either  silent  or  expressed  a  preference  that 
the  matter  should  be  dropped.  He  told  the 
writer  that  the  discussion  of  his  name  was  merely 
a  temporary  incident,  and  that  he  did  not  think 
there  was  any  strong  desire  for  his  nomination. 
He  steadily  refused  to  have  any  of  the  usual 
means  employed.  He  declined  to  have  letters 
written  in  his  behalf,  or  to  have  any  efforts  made 
to  secure  the  election  of  delegates  in  his  favor 
from  other  States.  He,  in  terms,  forbade  the 


THE    PRESIDENTIAL    NOMINATION.  137 

raising  of  any  money,  or  the  employment  of  any 
agents,  or  the  sending  out  of  any  biographical  or 
other  literary  matter,  to  direct  attention  or  influ 
ence  opinion.  He  said,  "  If  my  party  friends  in 
New  York  choose  to  present  my  name  to  the 
National  Convention,  and  if  the  delegates  from 
other  States  think  well  of  it,  and  give  me  the 
nomination,  I  will  accept  it,  and  if  elected,  will  do 
my  duty  as  well  as  I  can  ;  but  I  will  not  myself 
do,  nor  will  I  permit  any  one  whom  I  can  control 
to  do,  anything  to  influence  party  action  upon  the 
subject." 

The  candidacy  of  Governor  Cleveland  was 
greatly  strengthened  by  the  situation  of  other 
public  men  in  the  party.  For  a  time  it  seemed 
as  if  the  Western  States  would  be  substantially 
united  in  favor  of  Mr.  McDonald,  lately  United 
States  Senator  from  Indiana,  but  as  the  time  for  the 
nomination  approached,  it  became  manifest  that 
the  movement  in  his  favor  would  not  be  sufficiently 
strong  to  control  Ohio  and  Illinois,  nor  even  a 
majority  of  the  delegations  from  the  Northwest. 
There  was  some  division  of  opinion  in  his  own 
State,  and  notwithstanding  the  adhesion  of  Mr. 
Hendricks  to  his  cause,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted 
that  there  were  a  large  number  of  Democrats  in 
Indiana  who  preferred  Hendricks  to  McDonald. 

In  Illinois  was  General  Palmer,  an  eminent 
lawyer  and  a  distinguished  officer  during  the  Civil 
War,  and  also  Colonel  William  R.  Morrison,  the 

9 


138  LIFE    OF   GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

Democratic  leader  of  the  House.  Colonel  Mor 
rison  has  remarkable  qualifications  for  the  Presi 
dency,  and  a  career  which  has  been  full  of  inter 
esting  incident.  He  was  a  soldier  at  Buena  Vista, 
and  carried  a  musket  in  the  ranks  of  the  Illinois 
regiment  all  through  that  day.  He  was  the  first 
Union  officer  wounded  at  Donelson,  and  was 
shot  through  the  body  while  leading  his  regiment 
in  the  first  assault  upon  the  fort.  He  has  been 
in  the  House  since  1863,  and  knows  the  Govern 
ment,  and  its  affairs,  as  well  as  any  man  in  the 
country.  He  is  a  frank  and  generous  man,  an 
open  foe,  a  tenacious  friend.  He  has  always 
maintained  the  ancient  doctrines  of  his  party,  and 
has  never  yielded  to  the  heresies  which  have 
sometimes  swept  other  men  from  their  feet.  His 
record  as  to  public  expenditures,  the  tariff,  and 
the  currency,  has  been  without  defect.  His  elec 
tion  would  have  brought  into  the  White  House 
an  old-fashioned  Democrat,  plain  in  manners, 
prompt  in  speech,  with  an  abundance  of  shrewd 
sense  and  dauntless  courage.  But  for  reasons 
not  well  understood  outside  of  the  State,  neither 
Colonel  Morrison  nor  General  Palmer  could  bring 
a  united  delegation  from  Illinois. 

Mr.  Randall  was  presented  by  Pennsylvania 
early  in  the  spring.  He  had  afterwards  lost  a 
great  opportunity.  He  organized  and  led  a  suc 
cessful  opposition  to  the  efforts  his  party  was 
making  to  reduce  taxation.  Had  he  been  willing 


THE    PRESIDENTIAL    NOMINATION. 

to  take  a  practicable  and  obvious  course  ;  had  he 
assented  to  the  party  measures,  which  he  could 
easily  have  shaped,  and  led  the  Democrats  of  the 
House  in  their  attacks  upon  the  oppressive  and 
unnecessary  taxation,  he  would  have  rendered  a 
great  service  to  his  country,  and  have  become  the 
representative  of  a  wise  and  beneficent  policy. 
In  such  a  case,  his  nomination  would  have  been 
probable.  But  the  course  which,  acting  doubtless 
upon  honorable  motives,  he  preferred  to  take  as 
to  the  most  important  measure  of  the  session, 
made  it  certain  that  his  nomination  would  cause 
serious  divisions  in  the  party.  Mr.  Carlisle,  the 
Speaker  of  the  House,  had  gained  great  reputation 
by  his  conduct  during  the  session,  but  the  condition 
of  party  opinion  upon  the  tariff,  and  perhaps  the 
fact  that  he  was  a  resident  of  Kentucky,  formerly 
a  slave  State,  soon  made  his  nomination  unlikely. 
In  the  State  of  Ohio,  opinion  was  greatly 
divided.  The  defeat  of  Mr.  Pendleton,  who  was 
a  candidate  for  re-election  to  the  Senate,  and 
whose  public  career  had  been  distinguished  by  his 
devotion  to  the  reform  of  the  civil  service,  had 
produced  serious  discontent  among  the  Demo 
crats  of  the  State.  Judge  Thurman  occupied  such 
a  position,  and  his  career  had  been  so  eminent, 
that  it  was  supposed  that  all  the  Democrats  of 
Ohio  would  support  his  candidacy.  This  expecta 
tion,  however,  proved  unfounded.  The  delegation 
refused  to  present  his  name. 


142  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

Stephen  J.  Field,  of  California,  a  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  who  had  in 
former  years  been  considered  in  connection  with 
the  Presidential  office,  was  brought  into  prom 
inence  by  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
upon  the  question  of  the  power  of  Congress,  in 
time  of  peace,  to  make  treasury  notes  a  legal 
tender.  This  decision  had  carried  what  are 
called  the  implied  powers  of  Congress  much 
farther  than  had  ever  before  been  admitted  or 
even  suspected.  It  confers  upon  Congress  not 
only  all  that  can  be  directly  implied  from  the  lan 
guage  of  the  Constitution,  but  also  all  that  can 
well  be  imagined.  To  many  persons  this  decision 
seems  to  make  a  complete  change  in  our  system, 
and  if  it  is  correct  it  will,  doubtless,  materially 
diminish  the  respect  for  the  Constitution,  almost 
amounting  to  veneration,  which  has  hitherto  been 
felt  for  it  by  the  people. 

Justice  Field  delivered  an  opinion  of  great 
learning,  directness  and  eloquence,  dissenting 
from  the  new  doctrines.  He  stood  alone  in  the 
court,  and  instantly  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
public  thought  turned  towards  him  as  one  who 
might  fitly  lead  the  Democratic  forces. 

But  the  American  people  have  always  shown 
themselves  unwilling  to  select  a  President  from 
the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Several 
eminent  judges  have,  in  the  past,  been  candi 
dates  for  the  nomination,  but  in  no  important 


THE    PRESIDENTIAL    NOMINATION.  143 

instance  has  any  of  them  succeeded.  This  is, 
doubtless,  due  to  a  strong  disposition  to  hold  the 
judiciary  as  set  apart  from  political  strifes,  and 
as,  in  a  sense,  disqualified  for  political  office.  In 
the  case  of  Judge  Field  this  disposition  was,  per 
haps,  strengthened  by  an  opposition  to  him  in  his 
own  State,  which  was  carried  so  far  that  the  State 
Convention,  in  terms,  refused  to  permit  the  pre 
sentation  of  his  name. 

The  most  formidable  competitor,  outside  of 
the  State  of  New  York,  for  the  Presidential  nom 
ination,  was  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  Senator  from  the 
State  of  Delaware.  Mr.  Bayard  has  been  in  the 
Senate  ever  since  his  early  manhood.  During 
his  long  career  he  has  been  identified  with  the 
best  approved  public  measures.  All  tendencies 
in  favor  of  reform  inclined  towards  him.  He 
was  acceptable  to  those  classes  of  men  in  the 
Republican  party  who  were  offended  at  party 
methods,  and  who  sought  a  reform  of  administra 
tion.  He  is  personally  most  attractive.  He  has 
a  winning  charm  of  conversation  and  of  manner. 
His  life  is  in  all  respects  honorable.  He  is  sur 
rounded  by  able  and  influential  friends,  who  not 
only  respect  him,  but  regard  him  with  warm  affec 
tion.  No  one  doubts  his  fitness  for  the  place; 
indeed,  if  such  a  question  could  be  submitted  to 
and  be  decided  by  those  best  able  to  judge,  he 
would,  doubtless,  be  selected  for  the  Presidency 
almost  without  dissent  in  his  party. 


144  LIFE    OF    G ROVER    CLEVELAND. 

The  difficulties,  however,  which  lie  in  his  way 
appear  to  be  serious  ones.  He  was  born  in  what 
was  called  a  slave  State,  although  there  were  but 
few  slaves  in  Delaware  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Civil  War.  In  1861  he  delivered  a  speech  at 
Dover,  in  Maryland,  which  it  is  thought  would 
subject  him  to  serious  opposition  in  the  Northern 
States  on  account  of  the  sympathy  with  the  South 
which  is  betrayed.  This  speech  is  extremely 
moderate  in  tone,  and  when  one  considers  the 
time  of  its  delivery,  and  Mr.  Bayard's  youth,  and 
the  influences  which  surrounded  him,  its  modera 
tion  is  remarkable.  To  one  who  remembers  the 
condition  of  public  opinion  in  June,  1861,  the 
excitement  almost  reaching  frenzy,  which  filled 
both  North  and  South,  the  calm  and  patriotic 
expressions  of  the  Dover  address  disclose  a 
character  of  unusual  temperance,  and  with  a  self- 
control  not  often  found  in  one  so  young,  nor  in  a 
time  so  exciting. 

But  whether  rightfully  or  not,  the  Dover 
speech,  taken  in  connection  with  Mr.  Bayard's 
Southern  birth,  has  hitherto  prevented  his  selec 
tion.  The  delegates  from  the  Southern  States, 
themselves,  are  never  willing  to  incur  what  they 
consider  to  be  the  risk  of  his  nomination,  and  his 
own  State  of  Delaware  is  so  small  that  it  has  little 
power  to  assist  him  in  a  Convention.  It  is  greatly 
to  be  regretted  that  Mr.  Bayard  rests  under  such 
disabilities,  for  no  one  doubts  that  he  would  bring 


THE    PRESIDENTIAL    NOMINATION.  147 

to  the  Presidential  office  the  completest  qualifica 
tions,  a  mind  thoroughly  trained  in  affairs,  and  a 
character  quite  Washingtonian  in  its  symmetry. 
It  will  be  a  strange  and  harsh  result  if  so  slight  a 
circumstance  shall  permanently  deprive  him  of 
our  highest  civic  honor. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE    POLITICAL    SITUATION. 

THE   MORRISON   BILL — THE   STATE   CONVENTION. 

THE  Presidential  question  had  been  greatly 
affected  by  the  course  of  events  in  Congress. 
The  result  of  the  session  had  been  such  as  to  leave 
the  Democracy  without  a  clearly  defined  political 
issue.  A  demand  for  reform  hardly  presents  a 
question  of  politics,  but  must  always  depend  upon 
professions  which  can  be  made  as  easily  by  one 
party  as  by  the  other. 

When  Congress  met  it  seemed  to  be  easy  to 
make  an  issue  of  the  most  absorbing  character. 
The  former  Congress  had  refused  to  reduce  taxa 
tion.  The  public  revenues  had  swollen  to  enorm 
ous  dimensions,  and  were  largely  in  excess  of  the 
necessities  of  the  Government.  One  would  say 
that  it  would  be  difficult  to  present  to  a  practical 
and  business  people  like  the  Americans,  a  subject 
more  likely  to  interest  them  than  the  abolition  of 
unnecessary  taxes.  They  were  descended  from  a 
people  who  had  deposed  and  beheaded  their  king 
because  of  grievances  about  taxation.  Their 
ancestors,  when  poor  and  few  in  numbers,  had  for 
148 


THE    POLITICAL    SITUATION.  149 

a  similar   reason    revolted   and   waged  an  eight 
years'  war. 

It  was  easy  to  cut  off  seventy  millions  of 
taxes.  The  Democrats  in  the  House  set  them 
selves  to  this  work  with  considerable  confidence 
of  success.  The  only  doubt  was,  as  to  whether 
the  Republican  Senate  would  concur.  But  if  the 
Senate  should  refuse,  the  issue  would  be  sent  to 
the  country  under  the  most  favorable  conditions 
for  Democratic  success  in  the  elections.  It  was 
not  thought  that  the  Republicans  would  walk  into 
so  open  a  trap.  But  the  Republicans  at  once 
refused  to  consent  to  the  reduction  of  taxation. 
They  seemed  to  think  that  high  taxes  were  of  the 
essence  of  good  government. 

Mr.  Blaine,  early  in  the  session  proposed,  in  a 
public  letter,  that  the  taxes  upon  distilled  spirits 
should  be  made  permanent,  and  that  when  no 
longer  needed  by  the  Federal  Government,  the 
revenues  should  be  distributed  among  the  States. 
Such  a  measure  would  destroy  the  last  vestige  of 
State  independence.  Relieved  of  the  necessity 
of  providing  for  local  purposes,  the  State  Legis 
latures  would  soon  disappear,  and  the  government 
of  the  country  become  a  consolidated  one. 

The  measures  contemplated  by  the  Democrats 
were  designed  to  effect  a  reduction  of  between 
sixty  and  seventy  millions,  of  which  about  one- 
half  was  to  be  taken  from  the  tariff  and  the  remain 
der  from  internal  taxes.  The  first  of  these  meas- 


I5O  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

ures,  that  relating  to  the  tariff,  was  known  as  the 
Morrison  Bill,  and  was  reported  to  the  House  as 
soon  as  it  could  be  matured  by  the  committee. 

A  party  caucus  approved  it.  The  Democrats 
had  a  majority  so  large  as  to  be  able  to  carry  any 
measure  they  supported.  But  some  of  their  num 
ber  determined,  on  one  ground  and  another,  to 
oppose  the  bill,  and  the  question  of  its  considera 
tion  was  saved  from  defeat  by  a  narrow  majority. 
After  a  debate  lasting  three  weeks,  at  the  stage 
of  the  proceedings  when,  under  the  rules,  amend 
ment  was  for  the  first  time  possible,  a  Demo 
cratic  Representative  from  Ohio  moved  that  the 
enacting  clause  be  stricken  out.  This  motion  had 
to  be  decided  without  debate  and  was  carried  by 
a  majority  of  two,  forty  Democrats  voting  with  the 
Republicans  in  favor  of  the  motion. 

This  action  prevented  any  political  issue  from 
being  based  upon  a  reform  of  the  tariff  and  the 
reduction  of  taxes.  It  is  believed  that  it  is  the 
only  instance  in  history  in  which  a  party  out  of 
power,  and  soliciting  the  favor  of  the  people, 
has  deliberately  refused  to  reduce  unnecessary 
taxes. 

It  is  commonly  said  that  Democratic  defeats 
during  the  past  fifteen  years  have  been  due  to  the 
blunders  of  the  Democrats  themselves.  But  this 
is  perhaps  a  superficial  opinion.  The  cause  of  the 
defeats  may  more  easily  be  found,  in  the  lack  of 
that  unity  of  opinion  which  must  exist  in  order  that 


THE    POLITICAL    SITUATION.  151 

a  voluntary  association,  like  a  political  party,  shall 
have  coherency  and  discipline. 

The  absence  of  any  political  issue  between  the 
parties  was  favorable  to  the  nomination  of  a  can 
didate  who  had  not  been  connected  with  Federal 
affairs. 

The  Republican  Convention,  however,  supplied 
the  country  with  another  issue.  The  nomination 
of  Mr.  Elaine  presented  a  serious  question  as  to 
his  fitness.  He  had  been  charged  with  gross  mis 
conduct,  and  even  in  his  own  party  there  were 
many  who  believed  the  charges  to  be  true.  His 
nomination  was  followed  by  a  great  defection,  and 
among  the  dissenters  were  men  of  the  highest 
political  and  personal  consideration.  Most  prom 
inent  among  them  were  George  William  Curtis, 
the  editor  of  Harpers  Weekly,  and  Carl  Shurz, 
a  German,  who  has  played  a  distinguished  part  in 
our  affairs. 

Mr.  Elaine's  nomination  made  it  essential  that- 
the  Democratic  candidate  should  antagonize  him 
as  to  the  matters  which  subjected  him  to  reproach. 
The  New  York  State  Convention  was  appointed  to 
meet  on  the  i8th  of  June,  and  the  week  before 
Mr.  Tilden  broke  the  silence  which  up  to  that 
time  he  had  preserved,  and  published  a  letter, 
addressed  to  Mr.  Manning,  the  Chairman  of  the 
State  Committee,  announcing  to  the  public  his 
intention,  long  privately  known,  not  to  accept  the 
Presidential  nomination. 


152  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

This  event  brought  matters  to  a  crisis,  The 
name  of  Governor  Cleveland  was  immediately 
presented  to  the  people  by  an  article  in  the 
Albany  Argus,  to  which  paper  is  given  the  char 
acter  of  the  party  organ.  It  was  received  with 
favor  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  particularly 
so  by  the  Republican  journals  which  had  refused 
to  support  Mr.  Elaine,  and  by  the  citizens  whom 
they  represented.  In  some  of  the  States  there 
was  at  once  a  stron^drift  of  sentiment  in  favor  of 

o 

Cleveland,  but  in  New  York  there  sprung  up  a 
vigorous  and  resolute  opposition  to  him.  The 
New  York  Sun,  the  paper  of  the  widest  circulation, 
and  by  far  the  most  influential  of  the  journals 
which  advocate  Democratic  doctrines,  refused  to 
accept  his  candidacy,  and  the  Democrats  who 
meet  in  Tammany  Hall  also  refused  to  accept  it. 
To  this  opposition  was  added  that  of  certain  of  the 
labor  and  other  industrial  organizations,  which 
seemed  to  have  accepted  the  leadership  of 
General  Butler. 

The  State  Convention  met  at  Saratoga  Springs 
under  circumstances  of  considerable  doubt  as 
to  what  its  action  would  be.  There  was  a  ques 
tion  before  the  Convention  as  to  the  represent 
ation  which  should  be  given  to  Tammany  Hall. 
The  Tammany  men  were  dissatisfied  with  that 
which  had  been  granted  them  in  1882-3,  and 
demanded  to  be  at  least  placed  on  an  equality 
with  the  county  Democracy.  After  some  diffi- 


THE    POLITICAL    SITUATION.  155 

culty,  this  demand  was  yielded  to,  but  it  was 
thought  to  be  wise,  by  those  who  had  Governor 
Cleveland's  interests  in  hand,  not  to  present 
to  the  Convention  the  direct  question  of  his 
candidacy.  In  1876,  the  State  Convention  had 
formally  presented  Governor  Tilden  to  the 
consideration  of  the  National  Convention.  At 
Saratoga,  it  was  resolved  not  to  follow  that 
precedent. 

The  Convention  confined  its  action,  so  far  as 
respected  the  Presidential  nomination,  to  the 
selection  of  delegates,  and  to  the  passage  of  the 
usual  resolution,  authorizing  a  majority  of  the 
delegation  to  throw  the  vote  of  the  State  as  a 
unit.  Immediately  upon  its  adjournment,  a 
serious  doubt  was  raised  as  to  whether  the  dele 
gation  .  was,  in  fact,  in  favor  of  Governor 
Cleveland.  Two  of  the  delegates  at  large  were 
open  opponents.  The  Brooklyn  politicians,  who 
had  for  years  acted  with  what  is  known  as  the 
Tilden  wing  of  the  party,  had,  at  the  State  Con 
vention,  stood  apart  from  their  old  allies.  The 
eight  representatives  of  the  Tammany  Democracy 
were  opponents  of  the  Governor.  Mr.  Purcell 
was  in  the  delegation,  and  was  earnestly  against 
him  ;  and  other  delegates,  whose  number,  how 
ever,  was  uncertain,  were  either  favorable  to  Mr. 
Flower,  or  friends  of  Senator  Bayard.  Indeed,  it 
was  confidently  asserted,  that  when  the  delegation 
came  to  meet  at  Chicago,  it  would  be  found  that 


156  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

a  majority  of  its  members  were  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Bayard's  nomination. 

These  circumstances  gave  rise  to  an  angry 
public  discussion  almost  without  precedent,  and 
yet  amidst  all  the  clamor,  it  was  clearly  observ 
able  that  general  opinion  gradually  tended 
towards  Governor  Cleveland.  Mr.  Cleveland 
may  be  said  to  have  grown  up  since  the  war. 
His  whole  career  was  subsequent  to  that  event, 
and  none  of  his  public  actions  had  had  any  rela 
tion  to  the  causes  of  difference  which  had  pro 
duced  the  war,  or  which  were  involved  in  the 
controversies  that  came  after  it  had  ended.  He 
had  therefore  no  connection  with  the  first  issues 
which  had  divided  parties  in  the  past.  There 
was  against  him  no  such  obstacle  as  Mr.  Bayard's 
Dover  speech,  and  like  Mr.  Bayard  his  character 
and  career  stood  in  marked  contrast  with  that  of 
Mr.  Blaine.  Besides,  it  was  easy  for  the  Repub 
licans  who  had  voted  for  him  in  1882  to  do  so  again. 
In  a  sense  he  had  been  their  Governor.  They 
were  in  part  responsible  for  him,  and  were  satis 
fied  with  him.  During  all  this  discussion,  down  to 
the  very  last,  Mr.  Cleveland's  attitude  was 
unchanged.  He  had  accepted  the  idea  of  his 
candidacy,  and  no  longer  remonstrated  with  the 
friends  who  were  advocating  it,  but  he  turned 
neither  to  the  riofht  nor  to  the  left. 

o 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    CONVENTION    AND    NOMINATION. 

THE  UNIT   RULE — PLATFORM. 

IT  does  not  lie  within  the  scope  of  this  sketch 
to  present  a  detailed  account  of  the  proceeding 
at  Chicago.  A  National  Convention  is  always  an 
interesting  expression  of  the  political  life  of  this 
country.  No  such  thing  exists  or  can  exist  any 
where  else.  It  meets  under  conditions  which 
require  immediate  action.  The  work  it  has  to  do 
must  necessarily  be  done  quickly,  and  with  little 
discussion.  So  numerous  an  assemblage  cannot 
long  be  kept  together.  It  therefore  presents  a 
theatre  where  action  must  be  prompt  and  decisive, 
and  where  men  of  strong  characters,  who  are 
able  to  deal  with  great  masses  of  people,  and  at 
once  to  master  important  affairs,  find  a  fit  field 
for  their  powers. 

It  is  always  an  able  body,  far  more  able  than 
Congress ;  but  the  Convention  which  assembled 
at  Chicago  on  the  8th  of  July  contained  a  very 
unusual  number  of  important  men.  General 
Butler,  who  had  already  received  the  nomination 
of  at  least  two  political  bodies,  was  a  member  of 


158  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

the  Massachusetts  delegation.  Judge  Thurman 
was  in  the  delegation  from  Ohio.  Colonel  Mor 
rison  and  General  Palmer  were  both  representa 
tives  from  Illinois,  and  Mr.  Hendricks,  who  had 
been  Mr.  Tilden's  rival  in  1876,  and  had  been  his 
party's  candidate  that  year  for  Vice-President, 
was  at  the  head  of  the  Indiana  delegation.  With 
him  was  associated  Mr.  Vorhees,  almost  unequaled 
for  the  power  and  effectiveness  of  his  popular 
oratory.  The  Governor  of  Connecticut  headed 
the  delegation  from  that  State.  Mr.  Vilas  of 
Wisconsin,  an  orator  who  has  lately  risen  to  dis 
tinction,  was  the  permanent  President.  The  dele 
gation  from  New  York  contained  Mr.  Belmont, 
Mr.  Cooper,  Mr.  Manning,  Mr.  Magone,  Mr. 
Hewitt,  Mr.  Thompson,  Mr.  Travers,  Mr.  Kings- 
ley  and  other  men  of  mark.  A  large  number  of 
the  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
were  delegates,  and  several  of  the  Senators. 
Nearly  all  the  prominent  Democrats  in  both 
Houses  of  Congress  were  present  either  as  par 
ticipants,  or  as  witnesses  to  the  proceedings  of 
the  body. 

The  opposition  to  Governor  Cleveland  at  Chi 
cago  was  carried  on  with  the  greatest  vigor,  under 
the  leadership  of  Mr.  Kelly  and  General  Butler, 
assisted  by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Bayard  and  Senator 
Thurman.  Every  inch  of  ground  was  contested. 
Their  first  effort  was  to  abrogate  the  rule  by 
which  a  majority  of  a  State  delegation  was  per- 


THE    CONVENTION    AND    NOMINATION.  159 

mitted  to  cast  the  entire  vote  of  the  State  as  a 
unit. 

This  rule  was  of  ancient  origin.  The  Demo 
cratic  National  Conventions  from  the  first  estab 
lished  two  somewhat  peculiar  rules  of  procedure. 
One  of  these  requires  that  a  nomination  must  be 
made  by  the  votes  of  two-thirds  of  the  delegates. 
The  other  recognizes  the  right  of  the  State  to 
authorize  the  majority  of  its  delegation  to  throw 
its  entire  vote  as  a  unit  upon  all  questions.  The 
latter  of  these  rules  was  made  the  point  of  attack. 
It  had  before  been  subjected  to  assault.  In  the 
National  Convention  of  1844  an  effort  was  made 
to  change  it.  That  effort  had  caused  a  long 
debate,  in  which  the  ablest  Democratic  leaders 
of  that  time  took  part ;  but  the  Convention  then 
refused  to  change  the  rule. 

New  York  has  always  granted  this  power  to 
the  majority  of  its  delegation,  but  the  power 
has  not  been  always  used.  On  a  memorable 
occasion,  those  who  had  it  in  their  hands  refrained 
from  using  it.  In  1852  William  L.  Marcy,  of 
New  York,  was  a  candidate  for  the  Presidential 
nomination.  The  majority  of  the  delegation,  led 
by  Horatio  Seymour,  was  friendly  to  him,  but 
there  was  a  considerable  opposition  in  the  delega 
tion.  The  session  of  the  Democratic  Convention 
of  that  year  was  very  protracted.  The  vote  of 
New  York  was  divided  between  Mr.  Marcy  and 
other  candidates.  Several  times  the  delegates 


I6O  LIFE   OF    GROVER   CLEVELAND. 

from  other  States,  in  particular  those  from  Vir 
ginia,  went  to  the  New  York  leader,  and  told  him 
that  if  the  united  vote  of  New  York  were  thrown 
for  Marcy  they  would  come  to  his  support.  At 
one  time  such  a  movement  would  doubtless  have 
produced  Marcy's  nomination.  But  the  majority 
of  the  delegation  was  not  willing  to  coerce  their 
colleagues.  For  that  reason  the  vote  of  the  State 
was  never  united. 

Governor  Seymour,  speaking  of  these  events  a 
few  years  ago,  said  :  "  It  is  quite  likely  that  I 
there  made  the  greatest  error  of  my  life.  Had 
Governor  Marcy  been  the  President,  we  might 
have  avoided  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise,  and  the  fatal  consequences  of  that  measure. 
But,  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  throw  the  vote 
of  a  representative  against  his  will." 

It  is  thought  that  the  discussion  at  Chicago  will 
lead  to  the  abrogation  of  the  unit  rule.  But  there 
are  certain  considerations,  not  obvious  at  first,  in 
favor  of  its  continuance.  The  unit  rule  is  an 
expression  of  the  anatomy  of  the  State.  In  a 
Democratic  Convention  the  States  and  not  the 
districts  are  represented.  It  is  they  who  act  and 
not  the  individual  delegates.  Besides,  the  rule 
adds  to  the  power  and  influence  of  the  large 
States.  If  the  rule  should  be  broken  New  York 
would  not  be  more  potent  in  a  National  Conven 
tion  than  New  England. 

This   question   was    presented   at   Chicago  by 


THE    CONVENTION    AND    NOMINATION.  l6l 

some  of  the  delegates  from  New  York,  who  were 
powerfully  seconded  by  gentlemen  from  other 
States.  Had  they  succeeded  the  result  of  the 
Convention  might  have  been  different.  The 
motion  to  change  the  unit  rule  was,  of  course, 
opposed  by  the  friends  of  Governor  Cleveland. 
After  a  vigorous  debate  the  motion  was  defeated 
by  a  decisive  vote,  and  it  then  became  quite  certain 
that  Governor  Cleveland's  nomination  could  not 
be  prevented. 

The  subject  of  the  platform  was  also  a  matter 
of  unusual  interest.  The  action  of  Congress  had 
strengthened  the  difference  which  had  always 
existed  in  Democratic  ranks  upon  the  subject  of 
tariff  taxation.  The  Committee  on  Resolutions  was 
so  organized  that,  as  to  the  tariff,  it  was  quite  equally 
divided.  Mr.  Watterson  of  Kentucky,  Mr.  Hewitt 
of  New  York,  and  Col.  Morrison  of  Illinois  were 
members  of  the  Committee  and  represented  the 
tariff  reformers.  General  Butler  and  Mr.  Con 
verse  of  Ohio  represented  those  who  wished  to 
recognize  the  principle  of  protection.  Mr.  Manton 
Marble,  who  was  the  author  of  the  platform  of 
1876,  a  public  document  of  unusual  merit,  and  the 
declaration  of  principles  upon  which  the  party 
had  succeeded  at  the  elections  for  the  only  time 
in  a  quarter  of  a  century,  was  present  in  Chicago 
and  actively  assisted  the  Committee. 

The  work  of  the  Committee  was  finally  accom 
plished  without  compromising  the  historic  position 


1 62  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

of  the  party  upon  the  subject  of  the  tariff.  The 
Democratic  platform,  a  thoughtful  and  elaborate 
document,  is  presented  in  the  later  pages  of  this 
volume. 

Even  after  the  vote  upon  the  unit  rule  it  was 
not  certain  that  two-thirds  of  the  Convention  were 
in  favor  of  Cleveland.  Therefore,  an  effort  was 
made  to  concentrate  all  the  opposition  to  him 
upon  some  one  of  the  candidates.  It  was  thought 
that,  if  that  could  be  done,  a  compact  body  of 
more  than  one-third  could  be  organized  who 
would  so  protract  the  proceedings  as  to  compel 
the  majority  to  assent  to  the  nomination  of  some 
other  person.  This  effort,  however,  proved  unsuc 
cessful,  and  upon  the  second  ballot  Governor 
Cleveland  received  the  nomination  by  a  vote  of 
much  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  delegates  in 
attendance. 

Mr.  Cleveland's  cause  at  Chicago  was  cham 
pioned  by  skillful  politicians.  Most  of  them  came 
from  the  large  cities.  They  were  accustomed  to 
act  together,  and  to  encounter  opposition  vigor 
ously,  but  without  unnecessary  temper.  Many 
of  them  were  young  men  with  the  dash  and 
energy  of  youth.  Prominent  among  them  were 
the  Lieutenant-Governor,  Mr.  Hill ;  the  Comp 
troller,  Mr.  Chapin  ;  and  Mr.  Apgar,  a  politician 
of  unusual  sagacity  and  experience. 

After  a  session  of  only  four  days  the  Conven 
tion  adjourned,  amidst  expressions  of  unbounded 


THE    CONVENTION    AND    NOMINATION.  163 

enthusiasm  and  confidence,  having  chosen  as  the 
Democratic  candidates  : 

FOR   PRESIDENT, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND, 

OF    NEW    YORK. 
FOR   VICE-PRESIDENT, 

THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS, 

OF    INDIANA. 

When  he  was  nominated,  Governor  Cleveland 
was  in  his  office  at  Albany.  He  had  been  there 
all  the  morning  busily  at  work.  A  message  came 
announcing  the  nomination.  He  interrupted  his 
work  long  enough  to  receive  the  congratulations 
of  some  friends,  and  to  direct  that  the  news 
should  be  telephoned  to  his  sister,  and  then 
turned  to  his  desk  and  papers. 

He  has  ever  since  treated  the  matter  as  if  it 
was  not  a  personal  concern.  He  spends  his  days 
in  his  office  as  he  has  been  accustomed  to  do. 
No  introduction  to  him  is  needed.  No  one  is 
excluded  from  his  room.  He  will  not  take  any 
part  in  the  canvass.  He  will  live  in  the  Gov 
ernor's  house,  and  attend  to  his  duties.  If  it  is 
the  people's  will  that  he  shall  be  elected,  it  is  for 
them  to  express  their  purpose.  He  will  do  noth 
ing  to  influence  their  judgment.  He  can  do 
nothing  more.  They  must  decide  upon  the  prin 
ciples  for  which  he  stands,  and  upon  his  life  and 
character. 


164  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

On  the  29th  of  July,  the  last  event  connected 
with  his  nomination  took  place.  According  to 
custom,  the  National  Convention  appointed  a 
committee  to  inform  the  candidates  of  their  selec 
tion.  This  ceremony  took  place  in  the  drawing- 
room  of  the  Governor's  house  at,  Albany.  The 
candidate  was  surrounded  by  members  of  his 
family,  by  the  sisters  to  whose  support  he  had 
given  the  scanty  earnings  of  his  youth,  and  by 
many  of  his  personal  and  political  friends.  The 
speech  which  he  delivered  in  reply  to  the  address 
of  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  is  in  these 
words  : 

"Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee: 
"Your  formal  announcement  does  not,  of  course, 
convey  to  me  the  first  information  of  the  result 
of  the  Convention  lately  held  by  the  Democracy 
of  the  Nation,  and  yet,  when,  as  I  listen  to  your 
message,  I  see  about  me  representatives  from  all 
parts  of  the  land  of  the  great  party  which,  claim 
ing  to  be  the  party  of  the  people,  asks  them  to 
intrust  to  it  the  administration  of  their  govern 
ment,  and  when  I  consider  under  the  influence  of 
the  stern  reality  which  the  present  surroundings 
create,  that  I  have  been  chosen  to  represent  the 
plans,  purposes  and  the  policy  of  the  Democratic 
party,  I  am  profoundly  impressed  by  the  solemnity 
of  the  occasion,  and  by  the  responsibility  of  my 
position.  Though  I  gratefully  appreciate  it  I  do 


THE    CONVENTION    AND    NOMINATION.  165 

not  at  this  moment  congratulate  myself  upon  the 
distinguished  honor  which  has  been  conferred 
upon  me,  because  my  mind  is  full  of  an  anxious 
desire  to  perform  well  the  part  which  has  been 
assigned  to  me. 

"Nor  do  I  at  this  moment  forget  that  the  rights 
and  interests  of  more  than  fifty  millions  of  my 
fellow-citizens  are  involved  in  our  efforts  to  gain 
Democratic  supremacy.  This  reflection  presents 
to  my  mind  the  consideration  which  more  than  all 
others  gives  to  the  action  of  my  party  in  conven 
tion  assembled  its  most  sober  and  serious  aspect. 
The  party  and  its  representatives  which  ask  to  be 
entrusted  at  the  hands  of  the  people  with  the 
keeping  of  all  that  concerns  their  welfare  and 
their  safety,  should  only  ask  it  with  the  full  appre 
ciation  of  the  sacredness  of  the  trust,  and  with  a 
firm  resolve  to  administer  it  faithfully  and  well.  I 
am  a  Democrat  because  I  believe  that  this  truth 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  true  Democracy.  I  have 
kept  the  faith,  because  I  believe  if  rightly  and 
fairly  administered  and  applied,  Democratic  doc 
trines  and  measures  will  insure  the  happiness, 
contentment  and  prosperity  of  the  people. 

"If,  in  the  contest  upon  which  we  now  enter,  we 
steadfastly  hold  to  the  underlying  principles'  of 
our  party  creed,  and  at  all  times  keep  in  view  the 
people's  good,  we  shall  be  strong,  because  we  are 
true  to  ourselves,  and  because  the  plain  and 
independent  voters  of  the  land  will  seek  by  their 


1 66  LIFE   OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

suffrages  to  compass  their  release  from  party 
tyranny,  where  there  should  be  submission  to  the 
popular  will,  and  their  protection  from  party  cor 
ruption  where  there  should  be  devotion  to  the 
people's  interests.  These  thoughts  lend  a  conse 
cration  to  our  cause,  and  we  go  forth,  not  merely 
to  gain  a  partisan  advantage,  but  pledged  to 
give  to  those  who  trust  us  the  utmost  benefits 
of  a  pure  and  honest  administration  of  National 
affairs.  No  higher  purpose  or  motive  can  stimu 
late  us  to  supreme  effort,  or  urge  us  to  continuous 
and  earnest  labor  and  effective  party  organization. 
Let  us  not  fail  in  this,  and  we  may  confidently 
hope  to  reap  the  full  reward  of  patriotic  services 
well  performed.  I  have  thus  called  to  mind  some 
simple  truths,  and,  trite  though  they  are,  it  seems 
to  me, we  do  well  to  dwell  upon  them  at  this  time. 
I  shall  soon,  I  hope,  signify,  in  the  usual  formal 
manner,  my  acceptance  of  the  nomination  which 
has  been  tendered  to  me.  In  the  meantime  I 
gladly  greet  you  all  as  co-workers  in  the  noble 
cause." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

GENERAL  ESTIMATE  OF  FITNESS  OF  CHARACTER. 

IN  conclusion,  it  seems  appropriate  that  some 
thing  should  be  said  by  way  of  an  estimate  of 
Grover  Cleveland's  fitness  for  the  great  office  to 
which  he  has  been  nominated. 

It  is  said  that  he  is  without  the  necessary  expe 
rience  and  training.  But  in  this  particular,  his 
deficiencies,  if  they  exist,  are  not  without  pre 
cedent.  Neither  Jackson,  nor  Taylor,  nor  Lincoln, 
nor  Grant,  had  had  as  much  civil  experience  as 
Cleveland  has  had.  Jackson's  short  service  in 
Congress  is  hardly  remembered.  Lincoln's  only 
official  training  had  been  a  single  term  in  the 
House,  and  a  man  may  be  half  a  life-time  in  the 
House  without  being  subjected  to  the  discipline 
which  a  year  in  the  Governorship  of  New  York 
will  give.  Taylor  and  Grant,  when  they  came  to 
the  Presidency,  had  never  been  in  any  kind  of 
civil  employment. 

As  has  been  seen,  Cleveland  went  into  official 
life  when  he  was  only  twenty-six  years  old.  The 
District  Attorn eyship  of  a  large  city  is  an  admirable 
school  for  a  public  man,  and  gives  a  wide  experi 
ence  of  men  and  life.  He  was  afterwards,  for 

167 


1 68  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

three  years,  the  Sheriff  of  the  county,  and,  on  the 
ist  of  January  next,  he  will  have  had  three  years' 
experience  in  high  executive  office.  The  two 
years  in  the  Governorship  has  been  a  period  of 
severe  labor.  The  subjects  presented  to  him 
have  been  more  varied  and  more  perplexing  than 
most  matters  upon  which  a  President  has  to  act. 
He  has  had  the  anomalous  power  of  vetoing 
items  in  appropriation  bills.  He  has  thus  been  a 
part  of  the  Legislature,  and  has  been  called  upon 
to  consider  the  propriety  of  measures  before  they 
were  introduced. 

The  Legislature  of  New  York  deals  with  a 
greater  variety  of  interests,  and  with  more  compli 
cated  topics  than  Congress.  It  regulates  all  the 
concerns  of  a  community  more  populous  and 
far  more  wealthy  than  England  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth.  The  laws  passed  at  Albany  are  more 
than  double  the  volume  of  those  passed  in  Wash 
ington.  But  in  Washington,  legislation  is  more 
carefully  done.  The  work  of  committees  is  more 
thorough.  The  New  York  Legislature  sits  but 
four  days  in  a  week,  while  Congress  quite  gener 
ally  sits  every  week  day.  The  President  is  never 
perplexed  by  imperfect  measures.  No  one  can 
recall  an  instance  in  which  he  has  returned  a  bill 
with  suggestions  for  its  correction  and  amend 
ment,  while,  as  has  been  seen,  this  is  a  frequent 
occurrence  at  Albany.  The  President  has  more 
time  for  deliberation  than  the  Governor,  for  the 


ESTIMATE    OF    FITNESS    OF    CHARACTER.         169 

bills  which  are  presented  to  him  are  few  in 
number,  and  he  is  never  thrown  under  the  stress 
of  four  or  five  hundred  bills,  precipitated  upon 
him  at  once,  and  to  be  disposed  of  in  thirty  days, 
as  is  always  the  case  at  the  close  of  the  Session 
at  Albany^  Besides,  the  President  has  the  assist 
ance  of  a  Cabinet,  which  he  may  choose  from  the 
most  experienced  and  eminent  men  in  the  country. 
The  Governor  has  no  such  assistance.  The  heads 
of  departments  in  Albany  are  in  no  sense  his 
adjutants.  They  are  often  of  different  politics,  and, 
during  Governor  Cleveland's  first  year,  all  of  the 
State  offices,  save  one,  were  filled  by  Republicans. 
The  opinion  is  here  deliberately  expressed,  that 
two  years  in  the  Governorship  are,  to  say  the 
least,  quite  equal,  as  a  school  of  Statesmanship,  to 
the  same  time  in  the  Presidency.  Would  any 
one  doubt,  that  a  man  who  had  served  two  years 
as  President,  as  acceptably  as  Mr.  Cleveland  has 
as  Governor,  would  be  a  fit  Presidential  candi 
date  ? 

The  qualifications  of  a  public  man  are  not  neces 
sarily,  nor  often,  proportioned  to  the  length  of  his 
official  career.  The  history  of  the  United  States 
and  England  is  full  of  examples  of  men  who  have 
passed  long  lives  in  office  and  in  useful  and  honor 
able  service,  but  who  never  became  fitted  for  the 
highest  employments.  A  statesman  must  be 
judged  by  what  he  has  done,  not  by  the  length  of 
his  service.  Judged  by  this  test,  can  there  be  a 


I7O  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

doubt  that  Mr.  Cleveland  will  meet  the  require 
ments  of  the  Presidency?  The  most  essential 
of  those  requirements  are  qualities  of  character 
and  not  intellectual  ones.  A  President  should 
have  courage,  integrity,  firmness  and  self-reliance. 
Governor  Cleveland  has  shown  all  these  traits  in 
more  than  one  conspicuous  instance. 

At  the  present  time  it  is  of  special  importance 
that  a  Democratic  President  should  have  a  certain 
independence  of  party.  The  election  of  a  Demo 
crat  can  only  be  brought  about  by  a  great  change  in 
the  public  opinion  of  the  Northern  States.  Thous 
ands  of  Republicans  must  become  willing  to  vote 
for  a  Democrat.  It  is  not  likely  that  they  will  be 
willing  to  vote  for  one  who  is,  in  the  strictest 
sense,  a  partisan,  and  who  will  go  into  office  with 
violent  partisan  feelings  and  purposes.  This  last 
qualification  Governor  Cleveland  certainly  pos 
sesses.  He  has  clearly  shown  that  he  knows 
where  the  line  is  which  separates  duty  to  country 
from  duty  to  party,  and  he  has  never  failed  to  rise 
to  the  higher  level  when  the  occasion  called  him 
there. 

At  the  same  time,  no  one  can  well  administer 
the  affairs  of  our  Government  without  the  assist 
ance  of  a  party  organization.  It  is  through  parties 
that  men  come  to  an  agreement  as  to  policies, 
through  them  they  announce  their  principles  and 
their  intentions.  A  neglect  of  party  obligations 
would  therefore  be  the  betrayal  of  a  trust.  These 


ESTIMATE    OF    FITNESS    OF    CHARACTER.          171 

obligations  should  rest  with  special  force  upon  the 
conscience  of  a  Chief  Magistrate  who  stands  before 
the  world,  the  incarnation  of  his  country's  honor, 
and  whose  betrayal  of  his  party's  trust  would  sap 
the  foundations  of  the  State,  and  set  up  an  evil 
example  to  the  world. 

Grover  Cleveland  has  been  a  steadfast  Demo 
crat.  He  has  shared  all  the  fortunes  of  his  party, 
and  has  always  been  found  under  its  standard, 
whether  the  hour  was  one  of  victory  or  defeat. 
His  administration  will  be  Democratic  in  form 
and  in  substance. 

To  these  qualifications  he  adds  a  steady,  sub 
stantial  and  vigorous  mind.  He  expresses  him 
self  in  nervous  and  intelligible  terms.  All  his 
utterances  can  be  understood  by  plain  unlettered 
people.  He  takes  a  firm  hold  of  every  subject 
which  comes  before  him,  and  looks  at  it  from 
every  side,  until  he  understands  it  completely. 
He  is  ready  to  take  advice,  and  often  asks  for  it, 
but  he  makes  up  his  own  mind,  and  then  acts  not 
only  with  courage,  but  without  misgiving. 

He  is  a  genuine  American — the  product  of 
our  own  soil  and  institutions.  He  has  never  been 
even  a  visitor  to  foreign  countries.  In  his  veins 
flows  the  blood  of  Englishmen,  of  Irishmen,  and 
of  Germans.  These  are  the  races  who  have 
peopled  the  United  States  and  made  them  great. 
He  represents  them  all.  He  has  a  strong  man's 
love  for  the  land  where  he  was  born,  and  in  which 


172  LIFE    OF    GROVER    CLEVELAND. 

his  parents  are  buried.  His  kindred  have  lived 
here  many  generations  ;  they  have  been  soldiers, 
and  farmers  and  mechanics,  and  preachers  of  the 
Gospel.  His  ancestry  is  the  best  that  can  be 
found,  an  ancestry  of  frugal,  laborious  and  patriotic 
men  and  women. 

The  writer  of  these  pages  has  known  Grover 
Cleveland  well  ever  since  he  came  to  Buffalo, 
knows  all  the  main  events  of  his  life,  and  all  the 
features  of  his  mind  and  character,  and  has  no 
doubt  that,  if  elected  to  the  Presidency,  he  will  fill 
the  office  honorably,  and  most  usefully  to  his 
country. 


A  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 


THOMAS  A,  HENDRICKS, 

NOMINEE  FOR  THE  VICE-PRESIDENCY  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES, 


W.  U.  HENSEL. 


"He  is  a  good  Democrat;  a  reputable  man." — New 
York  Times,  Rep. 

"Since  the  war  commenced  I  have  uniformly  said 
that  the  authority  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  is  not  questioned  in  Indiana,  and  that  I  regarded 
it  as  the  duty  of  the  citizens  of  Indiana  to  respect  and 
maintain  that  authority,  and  to  give  the  Government  an 
honest  and  earnest  support  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
war,  until,  in  the  providence  of  God,  it  may  be  brought 
to  an  honorable  conclusion  and  the  blessings  of  peace 
restored  to  our  country,  postponing  until  that  time  all 
controversy  in  relation  to  the  causes  and  responsibilities 
of  the  war.  No  man  will  feel  a  deeper  solicitude  in  the 
welfare  and  proud  bearing  of  Indiana's  soldiery,  in  the 
conflict  of  arms  to  which  they  are  called,  than  my 
self." —  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  April  24th,  1861. 

"An  honest  jurist,  an  able  and  incorruptible  states 
man,  and  a  wise  politician."  "His  record  as  Senator, 
Representative,  Commissioner,  and  State  Legislator  is 
pure  and  untarnished." — New  York  Tribune,  July  22d, 

1872. 

"We  need  to  have  the  books  in  the  Government 
offices  opened  for  examination." — Thomas  A .  Hendricks, 
July  1 2th,  2884. 


m 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  OFFICE  OF  VICE-PRESIDENT. 

"  Gentlemen,  I  do  not  know  whether  the  framers  of  the  Constitution 
had  in  view  the  two  Kings  of  Sparta,  the  two  Consuls  of  Rome,  or  the 
two  Suffetes  of  Carthage  when  they  formed  it — the  one  to  have  all  the 
power  while  he  held  it,  and  the  other  to  be  nothing.  Gentlemen,  I  feel 
great  difficulty  how  to  act.  I  am  possessed  of  two  separate  powers — the 
one  in  esse,  the  other  in  posse.  I  am  Vice- President.  In  this  I  am  nothing, 
but  I  may  be  everything.  But  I  am  President  also  of  the  Senate.  \\  hen 
the  President  comes  into  the  Senate  what  shall  I  be?  I  wi»h,  gentlemen, 
to  think  what  I  shall  be." — John  Adams,  First  Vice- President,  to  the 
Senate. 

THERE  have  been  Vice-Presidents  and 
Vice-Presidents.  John  Adams  held  sec 
ond  place  to  Washington  and  succeeded 
him  in  the  Executive  Chair.  Thomas  Jefferson 
followed  Adams'  succession.  Aaron  Burr's  treach 
erous  abuse  of  the  generous  confidence  which 
made  him  the  choice  of  Jefferson's  friends  for  the 
Vice-Presidency  did  not  secure  for  him  the  end  of 
his  ambition;  neither  could  it  be  punished  by  his 
exclusion  from  the  next  place  of  prominence  in 
the  Federal  Government.  But  it  led  to  that 
change  of  the  fundamental  law  which,  in  the  en 
actment  and  adoption  of  the  Twelfth, Amendment, 
empowered  the  electors  to  choose  directly  the 
Vice-President  instead  of  bestowing  that  office 
upon  the  second  highest  candidate  for  President. 
The  differences  arising  out  of  the  bitter  quarrel 


178       LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HE ND RICKS. 

that  ensued  between  Burr  and  the  Jeffersonians 
were  the  beginning  of  that  downward  career 
which  culminated  in  Burr's  crime  and  ended  in  his 
poverty,  neglect,  and  death.  Under  Jefferson's 
second  Administration  and  the  first  of  Madison's 
terms,  George  Clinton  brought  to  the  Vice-Presi 
dency  an  honored  name,  worth  and  fit  dignity  ; 
Elbridge  Gerry,  elected  Vice-President  to  Madi 
son,  died  suddenly  in  the  second  year  of  his  term  ; 
Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  who  went  into  office  and 
out  of  it  with  Monroe,  in  the  uneventful  era  of 
good  feeling,  was  a  more  conspicuous  statesman 
before  than  after  he  became  Vice-President ;  John 
C.  Calhoun,  previously  distinguished  as  a  Repre 
sentative  and  by  brilliant  cabinet  service,  became 
Vice-President  by  the  mutual  consent  of  the  fierce 
Adams  and  Jackson  factions  in  the  electoral  strug 
gle  of  1824,  but  differed  almost  throughout  his 
Administration  from  the  President,  and  was  an 
active  party  to  the  combination  which  defeated 
him.  Personal  and  political  alienation  and  a  re 
vival  of  the  old  troubles  between  Monroe's  War 
Secretary  and  the  chief  captain  of  the  Seminole 
War  soon  produced  a  far  more  violent  rupture 
between  Jackson  and  Calhoun  than  had  ever  oc 
curred  between  Adams  and  Calhoun,  ensuing  in 
the  latter's  antagonism  of  Van  Buren,  followed 

o 

with  Van  Buren's  own  political  ascendency,  first 
as  Vice-President,  then  as  President,  to  be  followed 
with  his  defeat,  even  after  Calhoun  had  become 


THE  OFFICE  OF  VICE-PRESIDENT.  j  79 

reconciled  to  his  support.  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
the  Van  Buren  candidate  for  Vice-President,  failed 
of  election  in  the  Electoral  College,  but  was 
chosen  by  the  House.  It  was  not  until  1841  that 
John  Tyler  realized  to  the  country  the  importance 
of  the  Vice-Presidential  succession,  and  by  his  es 
trangement  from  the  party  which  had  made  Har 
rison  President  taught  the  politicians  that  they  had 
not,  by  the  policy  pursued  in  the  selections  they 
made  for  Vice-President,  avoided  the  dangers 
which  it  had  been  sought  to  obviate  by  the  consti 
tutional  amendment  of  1803. 

Since  then  it  has  happened,  within  a  period  no 
longer  than  the  space  of  a  generation,  that  three 
Vice-Presidents  have  succeeded  to  vacancies 
caused  by  death,  and  none  of  them  has  attained, 
by  election,  the  office  to  which  he  came  by  acci 
dent,  though  all  aspired  to  it.  Fillmore  was  chosen 
Vice-President  by  the  same  electors  who  made 
Taylor  President,  but  his  signature  to  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law,  approved  by  a  vote  of  227  to  60,  in 
the  next  National  Convention  of  his  party,  lost 
him  a  renomination.  William  R.  King's  long 
career  of  usefulness  and  distinction  was  crowned 
with  election  to  the  Vice-Presidency  ;  and  a  grace 
ful  grant  by  Congress  gave  him  permission  to 
take  the  oath  of  office  in  Cuba,  where,  on  March 
4th,  1853,  he  was  sojourning  for  his  health. 

John  C.  Breckenridge's  name  was  a  fit  one  to  be 
associated  with  any  Democratic  candidate  and  to 


LIFE    OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

be  honored  by  election  in  1856.  He  was  the 
nominee  of  one  wing  of  his  party,  in  its  fatal  dis 
sensions  of  1860,  for  the  highest  place.  Hamlin's 
defeat  for  renominarion,  in  1864,  was  due  to  a 
spirit  of  concession  to  the  Southern  Loyalists, 
and  resulted  in  the  Johnson  succession  to  the 
murdered  Lincoln,  with  all  the  train  of  political 
complications  that  followed.  Colfax's  defeat  for 
renomination  as  Vice-President  with  Grant  is  as 
cribed  to  the  hostility  of  the  newspaper  corres 
pondents,  whose  righteous  wrath  he  had  provoked. 
Mr.  Wheeler  "glided  through  the  official  routine  " 
of  Hayes'  term,  to  be  submerged  by  the  obscurity 
which  has  settled  upon  the  whole  of  that  Admin 
istration  ;  while  Arthur  has  shared  the  fate  of  Fill- 
more — in  seeing  his  policy  almost  unanimously 
indorsed  by  his  party  and  himself  rejected. 

I  have  thought  it  wise,  for  reasons  which  may 
or  may  not  be  obvious,  to  preface  the  biographi 
cal  sketch  of  the  Democratic  nominee  for  Vice- 
President  of  1884  with  this  brief  review  of  those 
who  have  been  chosen  to  the  place,  their  relations 
with  their  Presidents  and  to  their  parties,  and 
especially  to  note  the  peculiar  tendency  of  par 
ties  at  all  times  to  balance  their  tickets  by  select 
ing  candidates  for  second  place  upon  such  con 
siderations  as  would  almost  certainly  foreshadow 
a  departure  qf  administration  in  the  event  of  their 
constitutional  succession  during  the  term  for 
which  the  President  had  been  chosen. 


THE  OFFICE  OF  VICE-PRESIDENT.  jgj 

Despite  the  fact  that  in  the  present  event  Mr. 
Hendricks,  without  any  forethought  and  certainly 
by  no  action  of  his  own,  was  at  one  time  during 
the  proceedings  of  the  Convention  which  nomi 
nated  Mr.  Cleveland  his  principal  competitor  in  the 
balloting  for  first  place,  his  nomination  to  the 
second  was  effected  by  widely  different  influences, 
and  was  directed  by  other  considerations  than  those 
which  have  so  often  produced  the  fateful  results 
of  party  dissensions  following  Vice-Presidential 
successions. 

In  tracing,  however  briefly,  his  career,  his  pri 
vate  character  and  his  public  life,  his  steady 
progress  in  popular  affection  and  esteem,  his  un 
exampled  continuance  of  leadership  in  one  of  the 
great  parties  of  a  great  State — alternating  control 
of  it — his  course  as  Senator  and  Governor,  at  all 
times  a  faithful  representative  of  the  people  and 
a  conservator  of  sound  public  interests,  I  hope  to 
be  able  to  demonstrate  the  propriety  and  fitness 
and  wisdom  of  his  nomination,  and  to  present  an 
example  of  integrity  of  conduct  and  purity  of 
character  and  sound  judgment  to  those  who  be 
lieve  these  qualities  are  essential  to  the  adminis 
trators  of  government,  and  to  show  to  the  aspiring 
youth  of  the  country  that  in  the  end  it  is  the 
genius  of  common  sense  which  conquers  and  con 
verts  obstacle  into  opportunity. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ANCESTRY  AND   EARLY  LIFE. 

IN  the  settlement  of  Pennsylvania,  where  were 
nourished  the  springs  which  fed  streams  of 
emigration  and  pioneer  enterprise  reaching  to 
every  part  of  the  West,  Northwest,  and  South  there 
were  no  better  strains  of  blood  than  the  Irish  and 
Scotch,  or  that  in  which  these  commingled  and 
which  came  to  be  called — not  without  dispute  as  to 
the  propriety  of  it — "  Scotch-Irish."  The  people 
thus  called  had  above  all  things  "  grit,"  and  they 
displayed  it  in  social  life,  in  religion  and  politics,  in 
war  and  council ;  they  bred  men  and  women  of 
full  stature ;  they  built  churches  and  colleges ; 
they  were  true  to  their  homes  and  hospitable  to 
the  stranger ;  they  educated  their  children ;  they 
were  patriots  and  politicians ;  they  could  fight  and 
pray.  The  more  thrifty  and  cautious  German  often 
succeeded  to  their  inheritance  of  the  soil,  but  they 
left  the  imperishable  stamp  of  their  individuality 
wherever  they  settled,  and  they  wrote  their  names 
with  steel  and  flint  on  the  records  of  the  time. 

Out    in    the     Ligonier  Valley,  Westmoreland 

County,  Western  Pennsylvania,  there  is  a  stream 

called    "  Hendricks'  Run,"  which    flows    into    the 

Conemaugh ;  thence  its  waters   reach  the  Alle- 

182 


ANCESTR  Y  AND  EARL  Y  LIFE.  T  g  3 

gheny,  and  finally  find  their  way  to  the  Gulf. 
To  one  of  the  water  powers  of  that  brook,  which 
murmured 

"  Under  moon  and  stars 
In  brambly  wildernesses," 

the  ancestors  of  Thomas  A.  Hendricks  chained 
their  wheel  more  than  a  century  ago,  and  their  name 
abides  with  the  stream  while  men  come  and  go. 
On  the  father's  side  his  people  were  from  the  North 
of  Ireland.     Four  years  before  the  Colonies  had 
sworn  to  be  free,  the  Thomson  family,  of  pure  Scotch 
blood,   settled   in   the  Cumberland  Valley,  Penn 
sylvania,     near     Shippensburg,    in     Cumberland 
County,  whence  John  Thomson  sent  back  to  Scot 
land  that  famous  address  setting  forth  the  advan 
tages  of  climate,  soil,  and  opportunities  in  the  New 
World  which  brought  so  many  of  his  countrymen 
hither,  to  heavily  tax  but  never  exhaust  his  hos 
pitality.     Of  that  family  was  Alexander  Thomson, 
a  jurist  of  renown,  President  Judge  of  the  Franklin- 
Somerset-Fulton-Bedford  district,  in  which  office 
he  preceded  Judge  Black,  and  after  his  retirement 
from  it  his  library  became  the  law  school  of  Mar 
shall  College,  an  honored  seat  of  learning  then  at 
Mercersburg,  a  dozen  miles  or  more  from  Cham- 
bersburg,  Franklin  County,  where  he  lived.    A  son 
of  that   Judge   Thomson,  Vice-President    Frank 
Thomson,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company, 
illustrates  in  the  management  of  that  vast  corpo 
ration  his  ancestral  energy  and  enterprise.    Of  the 


LIFE    OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

Hendricks  family,  Abraham,  grandfather  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  served  in  various  public 
offices  and  as  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of 
Pennsylvania  1792-3  ;  1793-4;  1796-7;  1797-8, 
a  time  when  the  " per  diem  "  and  mileage  attaching 
to  such  service  did  not  outweigh  the  dignity  of 
popular  representation  nor  influence  the  duration 
of  legislative  sessions. 

o 

Jane  Thomson,  sister  of  Judge  T.,  and  John 
Hendricks,  father  of  Thomas  A.,  met  at  the  resi 
dence  of  Rev.  Dr.  Black,  in  Pittsburg,  father  of  the 
late  Colonel  Samuel  Black,  deceased,  and  from 
that  meeting  and  the  resulting  intimacy,  which 
ripened  into  love  and  had  its  fruition  in  marriage, 
sprang  a  relationship  which  connects  the  names 
of  Hendricks,  Thomson,  Wylie,  Black,  Agnew, 
and  many  others  distinguished  in  the  annals 
of  Western  Pennsylvania;  though  from  almost  the 
date  of  this  marriage  the  history  of  this  branch  of 
the  Hendricks  family  is  lost  to  that  State.  William 
Hendricks,  an  elder  brother  of  John,  had  already 
pushed  westward  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  success 
fully  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law;  thence  he 
removed  to  Indiana  and  became  the  second  Gov 
ernor  of  that  State  after  its  constitutional  or^ani- 

o 

zation.  Prior  to  that  he  had  been  Representative 
in  Congress,  and  subsequently  was  United  States 
Senator.  One  of  the  counties  of  the  common 
wealth  in  which  he  so  early  took  conspicuous  part 
bears  his  name,  and  his  public  services  are  an 


ANCESTR  Y  AND  EARL  Y  LIFE.  l  g  •- 

honorable  part  of  the  history  of  his  State.  His 
brother  John  and  his  bride,  with  her  niece,  followed 
his  track,  settling  first  near  Zanesville,  in  Muskin- 
gum  County,  Ohio,  where  Thomas  A.  Hendricks, 
their  eldest  born,  first  saw  the  light,  September  7th, 
1819,  sixteen  years  after  the  admission  of  Ohio 
into  the  Union,  and  when  the  State  of  Indiana 
was  not  yet  three  years  old.  The  father  tarried 
not  long  there,  but  pushing  farther  westward,  set 
tled  the  next  spring  after  his  son's  birth  near  Madi 
son,  then  the  chief  city  of  Indiana,  and  the  home 
of  his  brother  William.  Two  years  later  he  loca 
ted  a  farm,  which  afterward  became  part  of  the 
site  of  Shelby ville,  the  county  seat  of  Shelby  Coun 
ty,  a  region  of  level  surface  and  fertile  soil. 

John  Hendricks  was  a  tanner  as  well  as  a 
farmer,  in  a  day  when  distinctions  of  vocation  were 
not  so  well  marked  as  now;  but  more  from  force 
of  character,  culture,  and  commanding  intellect, 
than  from  eminence  of  occupation,  he  was  the 
foremost  citizen  of  his  community.  He  was  dep 
uty  surveyor  of  lands  under  Jackson  and  ran  the 
first  lines  around  his  own  preemption.  There, 
on  the  bluffs  of  the  Blue  River  Valley,  east  of  and 
adjacent  to  what  is  now  Shelbyville,  he  built  his 
frontier  home  of  hewn  logs,  a  mansion  in  its  day, 
dedicated  from  the  laying  of  the  foundation  wall 
to  social  cheer  and  hospitality.  This  early  struct 
ure  is  still  standing  on  the  "Michigan  road  turn 
pike,"  its  front  looking  westward  across  the  beau- 


LIFE    OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDR1CKS. 

tiful  valley.  Subsequently,  he  erected  a  more 
commodious  dwelling,  this  time  a  story  and  a  half 
brick  building,  a  little  north  of  the  site  of  the 

o7 

other,  and  for  the  transportation  of  material 
to  this  young  Tom  drove  the  oxen.  The  lad 
had  no  experience  in  the  tan  yard,  his  father 
having  early  abandoned  that  business,  but  led  the 
life  of  a  fanner's  boy,  first  attending  a  winter  school 
taught  by  Mrs.  Kent,  and  working  in  the  summer. 
John  Hendricks  subsequently  built  himself  a 
spacious  dwelling  in  the  town  of  Shelbyville, 
where  he  ended  his  days.  But  wherever  his 
home  was,  it  was  the  abode  of  domestic  happiness, 
refinement,  and  warm-hearted  entertainment  of 
neighbor  and  stranger.  He  himself  was  not  only 
a  man  of  striking  personal  presence  and  vigorous 
physique,  but  of  unusual  natural  intelligence  and 
accomplishments.  But  the  presiding  genius  of 
that  home  was  the  gentle  wife  and  mother,  "who 
tempered  the  atmosphere  of  learning  and  zeal  with 
thesweetinfluencesof  charity  and  love.  Essentially 
clever  and  persistent,  she  was  possessed  of  a  rare 
quality  of  patience,  which  stood  her  in  better  stead 
than  a  turbulent,  aggressive  spirit."  It  only  needed 
this  complement  of  her  husband's  good  qualities 
to  make  a  complete  conjugal  union  and  to  found 
a  homestead  of  delight.  Theirs  was  the  leading 
family  of  the  community.  Born  to  the  religious 
faith  of  the  Covenanter,  she  mellowed  it  to  the 
stern  enough  Presbyterian  creed  of  her  husband, 


ANCESTR  Y  AND  EARL  Y  LIFE.  j  g  - 

and  their  house  was  a  landmark  of  the  scattered 
Calvinists  in  that  sparsely  settled  region.  Its 
doors  stood  wide  open  alike  to  the  Methodist 
circuit-rider  and  to  the  man  of  God  who  came 
with  cowl  and  crucifix.  No  wayfarer  was  denied 
shelter  there,  and  the  vagrant  went  not  from  that 
threshold  unfed  nor  turned  cheerless  from  the 
gate.  The  spirit  of  levity  was  not  excluded  from 
the  portals  of  the  Hendricks  home,  and  during 
"court  week"  judges  and  lawyers  made  regular 
visitations  there. 

Few  of  the  great  men  of  our  land,  of  such  re 
cent  development,  have  not  had  the  valuable 
experience  of  early  life  in  the  country.  One  of 
his  boyhood  rural  recollections  served  Mr.  Hen 
dricks  admirably  on  an  occasion  a  few  years  ago, 
and  was  the  subject  of  a  most  felicitous  public 
address.  During  the  meeting  of  the  Millers'  Na 
tional  Association,  in  1878,  the  members  were 
given  an  excursion  over  the  "Belt"  Railroad  on 
May  3oth.  Being  appointed  to  welcome  them  to 
a  public  dinner  in  Indianapolis,  Governor  Hen 
dricks  in  the  course  of  his  address  spoke  as 
follows: 

"Indianapolis  is  a  city  of  no  mean  pretensions 
in  her  manufacturing  enterprise,  and  she  is  sur 
rounded  upon  every  side  with  uncommonly  rich 
lands  that  are  now  rapidly  coming  under  superior 
cultivation.  And  so,  if  the  investigations  and  de 
liberations  of  your  Society  shall  result  in  obtaining 


I  88       LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

from  every  bushel  of  grain  an  increased  amount 
of  food  for  man,  and  of  such  superior  quality  as 
to  make  its  way  into  the  markets  of  the  world,  you 
are  entitled  from  us  to  the  benediction  which 
Dean  Swift  bestowed  upon  the  good  citizen  who 
'could  make  two  ears  of  corn  or  two  blades  of 
grass  to  grow  upon  a  spot  of  ground  where  only 
one  grew  before.' 

"You  have  come  here  from  many  localities  and 
from  many  different  sections,  and  were  strangers 
to  us  when  you  came ;  but  we  do  not  feel  it  so 
now.  Indeed,  I  could  not  at  any  time  realize  that 
you  were  strangers.  As  a  boy,  I  was  acquainted 
with  the  miller,  and  I  thought  him  a  great  man. 
When  he  raised  the  gate  with  such  composure 
and  confidence,  and  the  tumbling  waters  drove 
the  machinery  ahead,  I  admired  his  power.  And 
then  he  talked  strongly  upon  all  questions.  He 
was  very  positive  upon  politics,  religion,  law,  and 
mechanics.  Any  one  bold  enough  to  dispute  a 
point  was  very  likely  to  have  a  personal  argument 
thrown  into  his  face,  for  he  knew  all  the  gossip 
among  his  customers.  He  was  cheerful.  I  thought 
it  was  because  he  was  always  in  the  music  of  the 
running  water  and  the  whirling  wheels.  He  was 
kind  and  clever,  indeed,  so  much  so  that  he  would 
promise  the  grists  before  they  could  be  ready, 
and  so  the  boys  had  to  go  two  or  three  times. 
He  was  a  chancellor  and  prescribed  the  law, 
every  one  in  his  turn. 


ANCESTRY  AND   EARLY  LIFE.  189 

"That  miller,  standing  in  the  door  of  his  mill,  all 
white  with  dust,  is  a  picture  even  upon  the  mem 
ory  of  this  generation.  It  is  the  picture  of  a 
manly  figure.  I  wonder  if  you,  gentlemen,  the 
lords  of  many  runs  and  bolts,  are  ashamed  to  own 
him  as  your  predecessor?  It  was  a  small  mill, 
sometimes  upon  'a  willowy  brook/  and  some 
times  upon  the  larger  river,  but  it  stood  upon  the 
advance  line  of  the  settlements.  With  its  one 
wheel  to  grind  the  Indian  corn  and  one  for  wheat, 
and  in  the  fall  and  winter  season  one  day  in 
the  week  set  aside  for  grinding  buckwheat,  it 
did  the  work  for  the  neighborhood.  Plain  and 
unpretentious  as  compared  with  your  stately 
structures,  I  would  not  say  that  it  contributed  less 
toward  the  development  of  the  country  and  the 
permanent  establishment  of  society.  So  great  a 
favorite  was  it,  and  so  important  to  the  public 
welfare,  that  the  authorities  in  that  day  invoked 
in  its  favor  the  highest  power  of  the  State,  that 
of  eminent  domain.  That  mill  and  miller  had  to 
go  before  you  and  yours,  and  I  am  happy  to  re 
vive  the  memory  of  the  miller  at  the  custom  mill, 
who  with  equal  care  adjusted  the  sack  upon  the 
horse  for  the  boy  to  ride  upon,  and  his  logic  in 
support  of  his  theory  in  politics  or  his  dogma  in 
religion. 

"  It  was  always  an  interesting  story,  and  one  of 
which  you  are  proud,  that  in  a  period  when  the 
rich  and  strong  were  able  to  corrupt  the  juries  of 


LIFE    OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS, 

England,  Sir  Mathew  Hale,  the  Chief  Justice, 
threw  off  the  robes  of  his  office  and  assumed  the 
garb  of  a  miller  and  found  his  way  into  the  jury- 
box,  and  thereby  drove  out  corruption  and  re 
stored  honesty  and  virtue. 

"We  have  now  reached  the  period  when  the  little 
mill  and  the  simple  machinery  of  a  former  day  are 
insufficient,  when  success  and  advancement  require 
capital,  improved  machinery,  and  skilled  labor. 
All  the  interests  and  pursuits  of  society  welcome 
you.  You  give  good  food  to  all.  You  give  em 
ployment  to  the  laborer  and  artisan  in  the  shop, 
and  your  success  is  heard  in 

'  The  reapers'  song  among  the  sheaves.'  " 

When  Mr.  Hendricks,  a  few  years  ago,  visited 
the  place  where  his  ancestors  dwelt  in  the  Ligo- 
nier  Valley,  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  he  eagerly 
sought  out  the  site  of  their  mill. 

In  the  early  history  of  Pennsylvania  the  name 
of  Hendricks  frequently  occurs  in  the  records  of  its 
pioneer  settlements.  In  1749,  Tobias  Hendricks  was 
Collector  of  Taxes  for  East  Pennsboro'  Township, 
Cumberland  County,  Pa.  The  next  year,  1750, 
his  name  appears  on  the  list  of  taxables  for  that 
township,  and  Abraham  Hendricks'  name  appears 
on  the  list  of  "freemen."  There  were  Hendrickses 
among  the  Scotch-Irish  settlers  of  Donegal  Town 
ship,  Lancaster  County,  Pa.,  about  1722.  After 
the  Cumberland  Valley  was  opened- for  settlement, 
on  the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title  in  1 736, 


ANCESTRY  AND  EARLY  LIFE.  x 

many  of  the  Scotch-Irish  crossed  the  Susquehanna 
and  made  homes  in  the  "  Great  Valley."  In  a 
petition  of  the  valley  inhabitants,  relative  to  trou 
bles  with  the  Indians,  dated  July  I5th,  1754,  ad 
dressed  to  the  Governor  and  Council,  Tobias 
Hendricks'  name  is  appended.  It  also  appears 
on  another  petition  dated  August  28th,  1 756.  The 
Indian  purchase  of  1768  opened  the  lands  of  the 
province  west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains  for 
settlement  the  next  year,  and  many  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  flocked  thither  from  the  eastern  counties. 
That  territory  was  then  in  Cumberland,  but  fell 
into  Bedford  County  on  its  erection  in  1771,  and 
into  Westmoreland  two  years  later.  Warrants 
for  land  in  Westmoreland  County  were  granted 
as  follows :  Thomas  Hendricks,  December  2Oth, 
1786;  Abraham  Hendricks,  January  i8th,  1793; 
Abraham  Hendricks,  January  9th,  1794, 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    EDUCATION   OF   THE    LAD. 

WITH  his  brothers  and  sister,  young  Tom 
Hendricks attended  the  village  schools, 
from  which  his  brother  Abram  passed 
to  the  University  of  Ohio,  became  a  Presbyterian 
minister  in  the  West,  and  is  now  deceased.  Sub 
sequently  a  neighbor,  John  Robinson,  living  some 
six  miles  distant,  secured  an  Eastern  instructor 
to  prepare  his  own  boys  for  college,  and  extended 
the  advantages  of  the  school  to  young  Hendricks 
and  other  neighbor  boys.  They  embraced  the 
opportunity  and  boarded  at  Mr.  Robinson's,  until, 
one  day,  the  teacher  left  suddenly.  The  boys 
walked  to  Shelbyville,  and  the  school  was  broken 
up.  Meantime,  Thomas  Hendricks  developed 
more  aptitude  for  books  than  for  woodcraft  or 
the  labors  of  the  farm,  and  'his  tastes  were  not 
discouraged  by  either  of  his  parents.  The  influ 
ence  of  his  father's  character  and  the  associations 
of  his  home  made  their  inevitable  impression  upon 
him ;  but  the  gentleness  of  his  mother's  dispo 
sition,  her  law  of  love,  and  all  the  gracious  power 
of  a  noble,  Christian  womanhood,  guided  and  nur 
tured  him  to  the  development  of  a  character 
which  he  has  never  lost,  and  he  never  ceases  to  be 
192 


THE  ED UCA TION  OF  THE  LAD. 

grateful  for  his  mother's  influence.  For  whatever 
exemption  he  has  enjoyed  from  the  infirmities  and 
vices  too  frequent  among  public  men,  and  for  the 
unwavering  exercise  of  those  fireside  virtues 
which  most  exalt  the  popular  representative,  he 
never  ceases  to  give  thanks  to  the  purity  and 
tenderness  of  maternal  love  and  care,  which,  after 
sixty  years,  bloom  with  perennial  freshness  and 
fragrance. 

During  his  residence  at  the  Robinson  school 
one  of  his  earliest  political  impressions  was 
formed.  His  father,  though  a  Democrat  at  that 
time,  was  not  a  violent  partisan.  The  school-boys 
attended  a  political  meeting  at  St.  Omer,  two  miles 
off,  and  heard  John  Dumont,  the  Whig  candidate 
for  Governor  against  Wallace,  make  his  argu 
ment,  on  questions  purely  of  State  policies,  for  a 
classification  of  the  public  works,  of  which  the 
State  at  that  time,  as  subsequent  events  unmis 
takably  proved,  was  carrying  too  great  a  load. 
Dumont's  logic  and  power  captured  and  converted 
all  his  young  Democratic  hearers  to  his  support. 

Previous  to  this,  however,  young  Hendricks 
had  been  made  secure  in  his  Democratic  loyalty 
in  national  politics  by  the  circumstance  of  seeing 
a  huge  pole  erected  in  Shelbyville,  by  the  Hickory 
Democrats,  with  a  new  broom  at  the  top  of  it. 
Upon  inquiry  he  was  told  that  this  signified  the 
determination  of  Jackson  to  sweep  all  the  corrup 
tion  out  of  the  governmental  departments.  He 


LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.  HEND RICKS. 

was  struck  with  the  idea,  and  never  abandoned 
the  purpose  to  "turn  the  rascals  out." 

To  complete  his  classical  education  the  youth 
was  sent  to  Hanover  College.  It  was  located 
on  the  Ohio  River,  near  Madison,  and  seventy 
miles  south  of  Shelbyville.  It  was  a  Presbyterian 
institution,  and  the  president  was  Dr.  McMaster, 
brother  of  James  McMaster,  now  editor  of  the 
Freeman's  Journal,  New  York.  He  was  a  re 
markable  man,  six  feet  in  stature,  beardless,  with 
a  gentle  voice  and  great  ability.  More  than  half 
the  students  were  from  the  South.  Of  his  class 
mates  it  is  difficult  to  keep  track  ;  but  several 
years  ago,  when  Mr.  Hendricks  went  back  to  his 
alma  mater  to  make  a  literary  address,  he  chose 
to  illustrate  the  relations  of  college  life  with  the 
duties  and  chances  of  the  great  world  beyond 
by  tracing  the  prospects,  fates,  and  fortunes  of 
three  of  his  fellow-students.  The  extremes  that 
they  presented  and  the  moral  of  the  lesson  may 
be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  a  few  years  ago 
Mr.  Hendricks,  traveling  among  the  foothills  of 
California,  came  across  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
geniuses  of  the  old  college  days — a  self-aban 
doned  drunkard  and  social  outcast — while  another 
probably  of  less  early  promise — is  now  a  brilliant 
and  distinguished  member  of  the  Chicago  Bar.* 

*  John  Lyle  King,  Esq. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

AT    THE    BAR. 

MR.  HENDRICKS'  chosen  profession  was 
the  law,  and  he  has  never  abandoned  it. 
Leaving  Hanover  College  in  1841,  he 
entered  upon  his  professional  studies  with  the 
late  Judge  Major,  deceased,  who  then  was  a 
leading  lawyer  of  Shelbyville,  and  subsequently 
removed  to  Indianapolis  and  acquired  wider 
distinction.  The  advantages  of  the  law  school 
conducted  in  his  uncle's  office  in  Chambers- 
burg,  however,  and  the  desire  to  visit  the  East, 
induced  him  to  become  a  student  and  member  of 
the  family  of  Judge  Thomson.  With  an  outfit  of 
two  hundred  dollars  in  silver,  he  took  the  steamer 
Lawrenceburg  up  the  Ohio,  stopping  off  at  Cin 
cinnati,  where,  for  the  first  time,  he  visited  a  the 
atre,  and  saw  Edward  S.  Connor  in  the  drama. 
The  mountains  of  Western  Pennsylvania,  to  the 
lad  who  had  grown  up  on  the  Indiana  prairies, 
were  objects  of  supreme  wonder,  and  the  scenery 
as  well  as  the  associations  of  his  ancestors'  home 
in  the  Ligonier  Valley  inspired  him  with  love  for  the 
State  which  had  cradled  the  men  and  women 
from  whom  he  sprang.  During  the  spring  and 
summer  and  part  of  the  fall  of  1843  he  was  the 


196 


LIFE    OF  THOMAS  A.   IIENDRICKS. 


guest  and  student  of  Judge  Alexander  Thomson, 
to  whose  instruction  and  example  he  owed  much 
of  his  professional  training,  and  before  returning 
to  the  West  he  paid  a  week's  visit  to  Philadelphia, 
the  recollection  of  which  is  one  of  the  most  pleas 
ant  memories  of  his  life.  Girard  College  claimed 
his  attention  for  an  entire  day,  the  munificent  plan 
of  the  institution  and  the  architectural  features  of 
the  structure  making  deep  impression  upon  him. 
With  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  of  his  store 
of  silver  in  his  pocket,  he  returned  to  Indiana  one 
week  too  late  for  the  regular  fall  examinations  for 
admission  to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  was  tested 
in  a  special  examination  by  the  Circuit  Judges, 
among  whom  were  such  celebrities  as  Whitcomb, 
Howard,  and  Wright.  He  was  easily  admitted 
to  full  practice,  and  for  some  years  following  his 
career  was  that  of  the  ordinary  fledgeling  barris 
ter  in  a  country  town.  He  was  diligent,  upright, 
suave  and  popular,  and  these  qualities  made 
moderate  success  sure;  signal  triumphs  were 
rarely  to  be  won  in  that  limited  sphere.  His 
practice  was  miscellaneous;  inclination  and  cir 
cumstances  usually  directed  him  in  criminal  cases 
to  the  side  of  the  defense.  Twice  he  volunteered 
for  the  prosecution. 

On  one  occasion,  while  on  his  way  to  the  court 
house,  he  was  appealed  to  by  a  negro  who  was 
fleeing  from  a  rouofh  fellow's  assault.  The  ruffian 

o  o 

came  up  and  boasted  that  he  would  "  teach  the 


AT  THE  BAR.  IQy 

d — d  nigger"  to  speak  to  him.  Mr.  Hendricks 
calmly  inquired  if  that  was  the  colored  man's  sole 
offense.  Upon  being  so  assured,  he  told  the  assail 
ant  that  he  would  teach  him  a  lesson.  He  had 
an  indictment  framed,  bill  found,  conducted  the 
prosecution,  and  in  two  hours  had  the  rough  sent 
to  jail.  That  was  the  first  person  up  to  that  time 
imprisoned  in  Shelby  County  for  assault  and  bat 
tery.  In  those  early  days  one  dollar  fine  was 
considered  fair  punishment  for  such  an  offense. 
The  injured  was  expected  to  get  redress  without 
resort  to  law.  In  his  address  to  the  jury,  Mr.  Hen 
dricks  had  argued  that  the  inferior  social  position 
of  the  negro  in  that  day  made  the  assault  upon  him 
more  reprehensible;  it  was  as  though  a  man  with 
his  hands  tied  had  been  set  upon. 

Again,  a  prominent  man  in  the  community, 
owning  a  fine  farm  and  of  eminent  social  position, 
was  charged  with,  and  was  manifestly  guilty  of, 
concealing  stolen  horses  and  produce  for  a  robber 
gang  who  plundered  the  neighborhood.  When 
fears  were  expressed  that  his  influence  would  de 
feat  the  law,  young  Hendricks  volunteered  to 
prosecute  him,  and  did  it  so  successfully  that  he 
was  sent  to  the  penitentiary,  though  released  by 
the  higher  court  on  a  technicality. 

The  story  told  of  his  first-earned  fee  is  that 
Major  Powell  and  Major  Hendricks  were 
neighbors  and  leading  men  of  their  day.  Nathan, 
a  son  of  the  former,  and  Thomas,  son  of  the 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

latter,  grew  up  together,  finished  their  education 
about  the  same  time,  and  opened  their  law  offices 
within  a  few  days  of  each  other.  Soon  after 
hanging  out  their  shingles,  a  petty  case  was  to  be 
tried  before  Esquire  Lee,  and  the  young  attorneys 
volunteered  to  appear  in  it — one  on  either  side. 
When  the  trial  came  off  the  'Squire's  office  was 
filled  with  the  friends  of  the  young  barristers, 
anxious  to  hear  their  maiden  speeches.  A  lot  of 
apples  were  procured  and  held  ready  to  be  given 
him  who  won  the  case.  Hendricks  won  it  and 
received  the  apples,  which  he  generously  divided 
among  his  friends. 

He  had  been  at  the  bar  only  four  years  when 
his  political  career  began  with  election  to  the 
Legislature,  and  for  thirty-six  years  he  has  been 
active  and  conspicuous  in  Indiana  politics,  never 
losing  his  influence  nor  forfeiting  the  confidence 
of  his  constituents,  and  gradually  coming  to  fill  a 
larger  place  in  the  view  of  the  country  at  large. 
During  this  time  he  has  not  only  at  no  time  aban 
doned  his  profession,  but  has  steadily  developed 
and  strengthened  in  it,  and  reached  his  pre 
eminence  as  a  lawyer  after  he  had  been  elected  to 
the  office  of  Vice-President  in  1876 — and  de 
frauded  out  of  it  by  the  electoral  juggle  of  1877. 
His  idea  of  the  relation  of  politics  to  the  legal 
profession  was  expressed  upon  one  occasion  at 
the  University  of  Michigan.  Visiting  Ann  Arbor 
to  deliver  his  lecture  on  "Revolution,"  he  was 


A  T  THE  BAR. 


accorded  a  grand  reception  by  the  students,  and 
next  morning  made  an  address  to  the  pupils  of 
the  law  school,  in  which  he  declared  that  his  suc 
cess  as  a  lawyer  had  always  been  his  greatest 
pride,  and  further  he  said:  "The  law  teaches  the 
highest  morality.  The  lawyer  must  be  a  man  of 
honor,  truthful  alike  in  the  office  and  court-room. 
The  highest  morality  taught,  except,  perhaps, 
from  religious  sources,  is  derived  from  our  courts 
of  chancery,  and  the  true  lawyer  is  a  democratic 
element  in  society.  He  takes  the  poor  man  into 
his  protection,  and  makes  him  equal  with  the  rich 
man  who  is  fighting  against  him  in  court.  He 
upholds  the  weak  man  against  the  strong.  The 
legal  profession  prepares  one  for  every  sphere 
of  life."  He  advised  the  law  students  to  go  into 
politics,  but  if  successful  not  to  stay  too  long  —  to 
learn  public  life  and  then  return  to  their  pro 
fession. 

After  his  term  of  service  in  Congress,  and  when 
he  had  returned  to  the  practice  of  the  law,  he  ac 
cepted  the  unexpected  appointment  by  President 
Pierce  to  be  Commissioner  of  the  General  U.  S. 
Land  Office,  only  because  after  consultation  with 
his  father  it  was  determined  that  the  official  expe 
rience  might  be  of  value  in  enlarging  his  knowl 
edge  of  the  land  law,  then  such  an  important 
feature  of  Western  practice. 

With  a  keen,  natural  aptitude  for  the  law,  and 
acute  perceptions  of  it,  well  grounded  in  the  fund- 


2QO       LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

amental  principles,  and  with  an  earnest,  logical 
cast  of  mind,  Mr.  Hendricks  has  been  so  frequently 
withdrawn  from    legal   practice  to   public  duties 
that  he   has   been  more   distinguished  in  politics 
than  in  law ;  but  his  natural  fitness  and  extraor 
dinary  readiness   have  served   him   so  well   that, 
with  all  interruptions,  he  has  held  with  facility  his 
place  in  the  front  rank  of  lawyers  in  his  State  and 
scored  many  brilliant  triumphs  before  bench  and. 
jury.     Removing  from  Shelbyville  to  Indianapolis, 
the  commercial,  political,  and  geographical  capital 
of  the  State,  in   December,   1860,   he   has   there 
continued  in  active  practice  ever  since,  save  dur 
ing  the  four  years  that  he  was  Governor,  when 
he    entirely  withdrew  from    practice.      His   first 
legal  partnership  was  with  Oscar  B.  Hord,  ex- Attor 
ney-General,  who  is  still  associated  with  him,  and 
his  cousin,  Abraham  W.  Hendricks.     The  firm  of 
Hendricks  &    Hord,  which  lost  one  member  by 
Thomas  A.  Hendricks'  inauguration  as  Governor 
in  1872,  gained  another  by  the  admission   of  the 
retiring  Governor,   Conrad   Baker,  on   the  same 
day.     Four  years  before,  Mr.  Baker  had   beaten 
Mr.    Hendricks  for  Governor  by  a  slender  and 
almost  questionable    majority   after   an    exciting 
canvass,  but  their  personal   relations   were   such 
that  the  law  partnership,  readjusted  after  the  ex 
piration  of  Governor  Hendricks'  term,  included 
them  both,  and  so  continues. 

Their    practice    is   of   a   general    commercial 


AT  THE  BAR.  2OI 

character,  and  during  recent  years  has  covered 
many  of  the  leading  Indiana  cases,  including  the 
famous  C.,  C.  and  I.  C.  Railway  case,  when  Gov 
ernor  Hoadley,  Justice  Stanley  Matthews,  and  ex- 
Senator  McDonald  were  the  array  of  opposing 
counsel.  Mr.  Hendricks  is  wise  in  consultation 
and  weighty  in  advice,  but  his  popular  reputation 
as  a  lawyer  has  been  won  by  his  ready  handling 
of  many  exciting  trials  in  court. 

One  of  his  most  celebrated  efforts  was  his  suc 
cessful  defense  of  Jay  Voss,  of  Indianapolis,  who 
found  a  negro  in  his  father's  house  under  circum 
stances  justifying  the  belief  that  he  contemplated 
a  felonious  assault  upon  a  female  domestic,  and 
took  the  negro  into  custody.  The  prisoner  broke 
from  his  captor  and  was  shot  and  killed.  By  a 
speech  of  great  power  and  subtle  reasoning  Mr. 
Hendricks  acquitted  Voss. 

George  Harding,  the  brilliant  newspaper  wit, 
tried  for  assault  with  intent  to  kill,  was  the  sub 
ject  of  another  of  Mr.  Hendricks'  most  eloquent 
and  successful  efforts  for  the  defense.  In  the  case 
of  Miller,  one  of  the  embezzling  officers  of  the 
First  National  Bank,  of  Indianapolis,  arraigned 
before  Judge  Blodgett  in  the  United  States  Circuit 
Court,  Mr.  Hendricks  was  subjected  to  a  most 
severe  test  by  the  Court  suddenly  interrupting  his 
impassioned  argument  of  fact  with  a  broad  intima 
tion  that  he  would  decide  the  law  of  the  case 
squarely  against  his  client,  the  defendant.  Though 


2O2 


LIFE    OF   THOMAS  A.  HE ND RICKS. 


totally  unprepared  for  such  a  dangerous  emer 
gency,  the  quick  counsel  framed  on  the  instant  a 
plan  of  legal  argument  which,  though  apparently 
aimed  at  a  court  committed  against  it,  was  really 
directed  with  such  impassioned  energy,  vehement 
legal  logic,  and  forensic  eloquence  to  the  jury  that 
they  overrode  the  Judge's  instructions  and  ac 
quitted  the  defendant.  The  scene  is  described  by 
those  who  witnessed  it  as  having  been  a  most 
remarkable  one,  and  an  eminent  lawyer  who  was 
witness  to  the  fortitude,  the  address,  and  the 
strategic  skill  with  which  Mr.  Hendricks  met  the 
crisis  says  "  It  was  the  test  of  a  great  man." 

Mr.  Hendricks,  while  he  has  accurate  and 
acute  legal  perceptions,  is  not  a  technical  lawyer  ; 
he  is  not  a  specialist,  but  has  the  average  quali 
ties  of  a  great  lawyer  in  eminent  degree,  and,  as  has 
been  well  said,  "  In  the  readiness  with  which  he 
gathers  up  and  gets  well  in  hand  the  questions 
both  of  law  and  of  fact  in  any  case  in  which  he  is 
engaged,  no  advocate  in  the  country  excels 
him  and  very  few  equal  him."  His  standing  at 
the  bar  is  clearly  recognized  throughout  the  West, 
and  when,  at  the  banquet  to  Chief  Justice  Cole 
ridge,  in  Chicago,  he  responded  to  the  toast,  "A 
common  system  of  jurisprudence  must  cement 
national  friendship,"  his  scholarly  and  original 
treatment  of  the  theme  was  no  surprise  to  his 
compeers  in  the  legal  profession. 


CHAPTER  V. 

AN  EARLY  POLITICAL  CAREER. 

MR.  HENDRICKS  has  ascended  to  his 
present  political  eminence  by  the  gradual 
stages  which  have  marked  the  course  of 
the  most  useful  and  most  illustrious  statesmen  of 
the  country.  No  sudden  accident  gave  him  pop 
ularity  or  official  position  ;  no  adventitious  circum 
stances  promoted  him  to  high  station ;  no 
"  bonanza  "  mine  has  furnished  the  resources  of 
his  political  strength,  and  no  corporate  power 
sent  him  as  its  attorney  into  the  halls  of  the  State 
or  Federal  Legislature.  In  tracing  his  political 
career,  the  several  features  of  it  which  bring  them 
selves  into  prominence  are  the  practically  unani 
mous  assent  of  his  party  to  every  nomination 
which  he  has  received  since  his  first  candidacy  for 
Congress,  the  willingness  with  which  he  has 
yielded  at  all  times  to  the  wishes  of  his  party  and 
the  public  when  fairly  expressed,  the  candor  of 
his  relations  with  his  party,  the  freedom  from  fac 
tious  contentions  of  his  position  in  the  organiza 
tion,  and  his  consistent  and  unwavering  devotion 
to  principle  ;  which,  together  with  no  small  degree 
of  political  astuteness,  have  enabled  him  to  main 
tain  an  unchallenged  leadership  of  his  party  in  his 


2Q4  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HE ND RICKS. 

State  for  a  longer  period  than  any  other  man  in 
American  politics  ever  held  such  control. 

Born  of  a  family  that  cherished  strong  political 
convictions,  and  sprung  from  a  race  which  never 
failed  to  bear  its  part  in  public  affairs,  during 
the  Polk-Clay  campaign  he  took  an  active  part 
on  the  stump,  and  in  1848  was  nominated  by  the 
Democrats  of  his  county  for  its  representative  in 
the  Assembly.  His  foremost  competitor  and 
most  frequent  antagonist  of  the  local  bar,  Martin 
M.  Ray,  was  the  candidate  of  the  Whigs  for  Sen 
ator,  and  they  stumped  the  county  together,  "  two 
moneyless  and  almost  clientless  barristers,"  says  a 
contemporary,  with  not  strict  accuracy,  "trying  to 
disagree  upon  the  subject  of  State  banks." 

His  immediate  opponent  for  the  Legislature, 
however,  whom  he  encountered  in  joint  debate, 
after  the  fashion  of  that  day,  was  Captain  Nathan 
Earlywine,  and  their  discussion  on  Flat  Rock  is 
to  this  day  a  vivid  tradition  of  the  community.  In 
his  speech,  from  a  high  bluff  along  the  river,  Ear 
lywine  charged  the  Democrats  with  bringing  on 
the  Mexican  War,  and  alleged  that  some  time  be 
fore  Hendricks  in  a  private  converbation  had  ad 
mitted  this,  but  boasted  that  he  intended  to  shift 
the  responsibility  from  the  Democrats  to  the 
Whigs.  Hendricks,  standing  some  distance  down 
the  bank,  caught  the  speaker's  words  and  shouted 
out,  "You  know  that's  a  lie."  For  a  time  a  sud 
den  and  rather  violent  termination  of  the  meeting 


AN  EARLY  POLITICAL   CAREER.  2Oc- 

was  threatened,  but  when  Mr.  Hendricks  got 
upon  the  stump  he  so  far  justified  his  declaration 
that  even  his  opponents  gave  him  their  attention 
and  respect.  It  was  a  close  fight  over  the  thirteen 
townships  of  the  county,  but  Hendricks  ran  ahead 
of  his  ticket  and  was  elected. 

Of  this  same  Earlywine,  with  whom  Hendricks 
was  ordinarily  on  the  best  of  terms,  the  story  is 
related  that,  being  appointed  to  make  the  village 
Fourth  of  July  oration  soon  after  Hendricks  had 
been  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  went  to  the  latter  to 
borrow  from  him  the  manuscript  of  an  oration 
which  Hendricks  had  made  at  a  barbecue,  the 
year  before,  in  " Johnny  Young's  Grove."  He 
desired,  likewise,  to  have  it  adapted  to  later  times 
by  the  addition  of  some  reference  to  the  pending 
Oregon  question.  Hendricks,  knowing  him  to  be 
a  violent  Whig,  though  not  very  acute  in  his  dis 
tinction  of  political  principles,  played  a  trick 
upon  him  by  inserting  in  his  speech  this  valiant 
Democratic  sentiment:  "If  any  lines  are  to  be 
drawn  across  the  map  of  Oregon,  let  them  be 
drawn  in  blood''  Earlywine  delivered  the  speech 
with  explosive  eloquence,  but  the  Democrats 
present  were  equally  astonished  and  amused  at 
his  patriotic  sentiments  on  the  Oregon  question. 

In  the  Legislature,  as  a  member  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Banks,  he  opposed  the  extension  of  the 
State  Bank's  branches  with  ability,  and  as  the  re 
sult  of  a  careful  study  of  the  subject  and  of  pro- 


205      LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

found  conviction.  The  increasing  demands  of 
his  profession  and  a  disinclination  for  legislative 
service  prompted  him  to  decline  renomination ; 
but  in  1850,  by  the  wish  of  all  parties  and  without 
opposition,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Con 
vention  called  to  amend  the  original  Constitution 
(1816)  of  the  State.  Among  the  members  of  the 
Convention  were  Robert  Dale  Owen,  Judges  Pettit 
and  Biddle,  his  seniors ;  W.  S.  Holman  and 
Schuyler  Colfax,  who  were  younger  than 
Hendricks.  That  body  was  not  organized  nor 
divided  upon  party  lines.  Mr.  Hendricks  was  on 
the  Banking  and  Judiciary  Committees,  and  his 
close  attention  to  responsible  duties  and  his  suc 
cessful  disputations  with  men  of  greater  fame 
gave  him  a  reputation  that  made  him  a  promi 
nent  candidate  for  the  Congressional  nomina 
tion  in  his  district.  It  was  composed  of  all  the 
counties  between  Brown  and  Tipton,  Madison 
and  Hendricks,  and  being  strongly  Democratic, 
nearly  every  county  had  a  candidate,  and  one  of 
them  presented  six.  On  the  fifty-third  ballot 
Hendricks  was  chosen — and  this  was  the  last  time 
in  his  public  career  that  any  nomination  conferred 
upon  him  was  seriously  contested.  His  election 
followed  the  Democratic  nomination  by  a  majority 
of  more  than  three  thousand  over  his  opponent, 
Colonel  Rush,  of  Hancock. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

TWO    TERMS    IN    CONGRESS. 

THE  first  term  in  Congress  is  usually  an 
uneventful  one  to  the  new  member,  but  Mr. 
Hendricks  made  himself  popular  with  his 
associates  and  proved  attentive  to  his  constituents. 
He  was  renominated,  as  a  matter  of  course,  in  a 
re-apportioned  district  of  six  counties,  and  his 
second  campaign  (made  the  next  year,  under  the 
new  Constitution)  involved  a  famous  joint  discus 
sion  with  his  opponent,  named  Bradley.  The  lat 
ter  had  spoken  thirteen  times  in  Shelby  County, 
and  Hendricks  had  engagement  to  make  but  one 
speech  on  the  familiar  ground,  Flat  Rock,  on  the 
forenoon  of  the  day  before  election.  There  he 
was  met  with  the  news  that  Bradley  had  invaded 
Shelbyville  and  was  posted  to  speak  there  that 
afternoon,  to  the  great  terror  of  the  Democrats. 
After  his  speech  at  Flat  Rock,  Hendricks  hastened 
to  engage  the  adversary,  and,  like  Sheridan  on 
his  way  to  Winchester,  the  first  that  he  saw 

"  Were  the  groups  of  stragglers,  and  then  the  retreating  troops." 

His  affrighted  friends  had  actually  gone  out  to 
meet  him  and  to  tell  him  that  "Bradley  had  come," 
though  no  joint  discussion  had  been  arranged.  The 
Whigs  were  correspondingly  elated.  After  eat- 

207 


208       LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

ing  his  dinner,  Mr.  Hendricks  proceeded  to  the 
meeting  where  his  antagonist  was  savagely  assault 
ing  his  votes  in  Congress  on  the  river  and  harbor 
bill  and  on  the  division  of  the  public  lands.  Just 
as  he  discovered  Mr.  Hendricks,  he  declared  with 
violence  that  some  one  had  reported  that  he  was  an 
Abolitionist,  and,  looking  straight  at  Hendricks,  he 
pronounced  the  author  of  the  charge  to  be  a 
"liar."  Every  eye  was  turned  to  the  newcomer, 
and  the  Whigs  were  charmed,  delighted,  and 
fairly  intoxicated  with  the  aggressive  attitude  of 
their  candidate. 

Biding  his  time,  and  undaunted  by  the  prevail 
ing  sympathy  with  his  opponent,  Mr.  Hendricks 
took  the  platform.  For  once  he  played  the  brag 
gart  ;  it  was  the  only  time  he  was  ever  known  to 
take  off  his  coat  in  a  public  political  debate,  and, 
departing  from  his  wonted  custom  to  appeal  only 
to  the  higher  instincts  and  cooler  judgment  of  his 
audience,  he  rivaled  his  opponent  in  skillfully 
playing  upon  their  feelings.  He  defended  his 
course  in  the  matters  upon  which  he  had  been 
assailed,  and  fearlessly  told  his  hearers  to  vote 
against  him  if,  when  he  had  finished,  they  were 
not  satisfied  with  his  course.  He  deliberately  took 
up  the  issues  presented  by  Bradley,  and  made  the 
most  adroit  use  of  a  rather  trifling  difference 
which  he  detected  between  his  veritable  record 
and  that  which  his  enemies  had  circulated  by  hand 
bill.  He  appealed  to  the  Western  sense  of  fair 


TWO  TERMS  IN  CONGRESS. 


20Q 


play,  and  when,  after  summing  up,  he  asked,  "Does 
anybody  now  disapprove  my  vote  ?  "  not  a  man  of 
the  thoroughly  routed  opposition  made  reply.  Brad 
ley  left  the  court-house  a  beaten  man.  Almost 
frantic  with  rage  and  disappointment,  he  mounted 
a  store  box  on  the  street,  and  vainly  tried  to  rally 
his  panic-stricken  supporters  with  incoherent  re 
joinder.  The  result  was  that  the  ordinary  Dem 
ocratic  majority  in  the  county  was  nearly  doubled 
for  Hendricks,  and.  he  was  returned  to  Congress 
by  a  very  decided  majority  in  his  district. 

During  his  second  term  in  Congress  that  body 
and  the  whole  country  were  exercised  over  the 
passage  of  the  Nebraska-Kansas  bill,  involving 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  Doug 
las  led  the  debate  in  the  Senate  for  the  creation 
of  the  two  Territories,  sustained  generally  by  his 
party,  with  Seward,  Chase,  Sumner,  and  Wade — 
of  whom  three  lived  to  be  in  political  accord  with 
Mr.  Hendricks — directing  the  opposition.  After 
an  exciting  struggle  and  the  memorable  passage 
of  the  bill  at  midnight  in  the  Senate,  it  went  to 
the  House.  Here  another  violent  struggle  en 
sued,  closed  by  the  strategic  parliamentary  lead 
ership  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  when  the  bill 
passed,  without  amendment,  by  one  hundred 
and  thirteen  to  one  hundred,  though  Mr.  W. 
H.  English — then,  as  now,  a  Democrat,  who 
became  the  nominee  of  his  party  for  Vice- 
President  in  1880 — had  offered  an  amendment 


2  I O  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A,  HENDRICKS. 

more  acceptable  to  the  Whigs,  which  was  cut 
off  by  the  order  of  the  previous  question.  Of 
the  votes  for  the  measure,  forty-four  were  con 
tributed  by  Democrats  from  the  Free  States, 
fifty-seven  by  Democrats  and  twelve  by  Whigs 
from  the  Slave  States.  Of  the  negative  votes 
there  were  forty-four  Whigs, forty- four  Democrats, 
and  three  Free  Soilers,  from  the  North ;  two 
Democrats  (counting  Colonel  Thomas  H.  Benton) 
and  seven  Whigs  from  the  South.  Mr.  Hendricks 
voted  with  the  bulk  of  his  party  for  the  measure. 
Linn  Boyd  was  Speaker  of  the  House  during  his 
term  of  service,  and  among  his  most  distinguished 
contemporaries  was  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Benton, 
conspicuous  for  long  experience  in  the  Senate,  and 
who  separated  from  his  party  on  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill. 

It  has  been  repeatedly  urged  that  his  vote  for  this 
measure  was  the  cause  of  Hendricks'  defeat  for 
re-election,  but  it  was  cast  strictly  in  accord  with 
the  sentiments  of  his  constituents,  who  remained 
throughout  the  Douglas  controversies  in  the  party 
fast  adherents  of  that  popular  leader.  Upon  enter 
ing  his  second  term,  Mr.  Hendricks  had  avowed  his 
unwillingness  to  be  a  candidate  the  third  time,  and 
only  the  taunts  of  the  opposition  and  the  chal 
lenge  of  those  who  criticised  his  course  in  Con 
gress  changed  his  determination.  He  was  unan 
imously  renominated,  and  all  the  elements  of  op 
position  combined  in  support  of  Lucien  Barbour, 


TWO   TERMS  IN  CONGRESS.  2  f  j 

who  had  been  a  Democrat,  and  who  now  rallied 
to  his  cause  Free-Soilers,  Abolitionists,  Temper 
ance  men,  Know-Nothings,  Whigs,  and  every  ele 
ment  of  opposition  which,  in  those  days  of  piebald 
politics  and  Whig  disintegration,  sprang  up  to 
confront  and  destroy  the  party  in  power.  None 
of  these  was  more  intense  and  potential  for  a 
brief  season  than  the  Know-Nothing  party,  and 
as  its  principles  are  still  cherished  by  a  large  por 
tion  of  the  opposition  to  the  Democracy,  and  as 
Mr.  Hendricks  has  never  modified  his  convictions 
upon  that  subject,  an  extract  from  his  speech  at 
Shelbyville,  in  the  Congressional  canvass  of  1854, 
is  illustrative  of  his  opinion  on  a  theme  of  abiding 
interest  in  a  land  of  such  composite  nationality  as 
ours.  On  that  occasion  Mr.  Hendricks  said: 

"  When  the  Democratic  Administration  of  Jef 
ferson  came  in,  liberal  laws  were  enacted,  and  our 
young  Republic  said  to  the  oppressed  millions  of 
Europe,  '  Come,  and  cheap  lands  shall  furnish  you 
a  home  ;  come,  and  the  flag  of  the  free  shall  wave 
over  and  protect  you  ;  come,  and  just  laws  shall 
make  you  free.'  They  did  come,  and  with  them 
came  the  scholar,  the  artist,  the  farmer,  the  me 
chanic,  and  the  laborer,  and  they  brought  no 
trouble  upon  our  fathers,  but  much  strength,  and 
contributed  largely  to  the  development  of  the 
country.  Our  fathers  were  then  only  five  millions 
strong,  but  they  were  not  afraid  for  their  liberties 
or  for  their  Protestant  religion  in  the  adoption  of 


2  t  2  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

that  policy.  Since  that  day  half  a  century  has 
gone  by,  and  our  last  census  shows  us  to  be  a 
people  of  twenty-three  millions,  with  a  native- 
born  white  population  of  seventeen  millions  and 
three-quarters,  and  a  population  of  foreign  birth 
of  only  two  millions  and  one-quarter.  Our  for 
eign  population,  animated  by  a  common  sentiment 
of  admiration  for  our  institutions,  have  abandoned 
the  lands  of  their  birth,  and  with  their  wives  and 
children  have  settled  down  among  us,  making  our 
fortunes  their  fortunes,  our  hopes  their  hopes,  and 
our  destiny  their  destiny.  When  have  they  re 
fused  to  discharge  any  duty  required  by  Govern 
ment  ?  Do  they  not  promptly  pay  their  taxes, 
diligently  labor  upon  the  highways,  faithfully  serve 
in  our  armies,  and  valiantly  fight  in  defense  of  our 
country?  It  is  not  true  that  our  liberties  or  our 
religion  are  endangered  by  the  presence  of  our 
foreign  population.  Our  fathers  intended  to  se 
cure  the  liberties  of  the  citizen,  that  the  Church 
and  State  should  be  separate,  and  that  the 
Church  should  not  control  the  State,  nor  the  State 
corrupt  the  Church.  No  test  can  be  made  by  law, 
whereby  one  class  of  men  shall  be  promoted  to 
office  and  another  class  deprived  of  office  because 
of  their  religion.  The  Constitution  prohibits  it  for 
the  reason  that  such  a  thing  ought  not  to  be  done." 
That  wave  of  political  revolution  rose  beyond 
the  high-water  mark  of  partisan  folly  in  many 
States,  and  though  it  ebbed  more  swiftly  than 


TWO  TERMS  IN  CONGRESS.  2  T  3 

even  it  flowed,  the  ugly  marks  of  its  ascendency 
were  visible  for  many  years,  and  the  debris  which 
floated  on  its  crest  is  still  to  be  seen  scattered 
here  and  there  in  American  politics.  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks  was  submerged  by  it,  and  retired  from 
Congress  March  5th,  1855,  fully  intending  to  re 
sume  the  assiduous  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Shelbyville. 

This  purpose  was  interrupted  a  few  months 
later  by  the  totally  unsolicited  and  unexpected 
tender  from  President  Pierce,  in  a  personal  letter, 
of  the  appointment  to  the  office  of  Commissioner  of 
the  General  Land  Office,  in  the  Department  of  the 
Interior,  then  administered  by  Secretary  Robert  M. 
McClelland,  of  Michigan — one  of  the  three  Cab 
inet  offices  ever  held  by  that  State.  The  position 
was  accepted  only  after  much  deliberation,  and 
with  the  view  of  promoting  Mr.  Hendricks' 
knowledge  of  the  land  law,  as  he  had  resolved  to 
devote  his  future  career  to  his  chosen  profession. 

Mr.  Hendricks  continued  in  this  office,  at  the 
request  of  the  succeeding  Secretary,  Jacob 
Thompson,  of  President  Buchanan's  Administra 
tion,  and  remained  Commissioner  until  1859,  when 
he  resigned  to  resume  his  law  practice.  He  had 
brought  to  the  place  vast  aptitude  for  the  dis 
charge  of  its  duties,  and  the  business  and  organ 
izing  faculty  which  its  proper  administration  re 
quired.  During  his  term  and  his  superintendency 
of  the  one  hundred  and  eighty  clerks  employed, 


214 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDR1CKS. 


twenty-two  thousand  contested  cases  were  settled 
and  over  four  hundred  thousand  patents  issued. 
The  exercise  of  his  functions  was  distinguished 
by  careful  surveys,  early  examinations  and  prompt 
decision  of  titles,  ready  aid  to  settlers,  a  recog 
nition  of  the  value  to  the  remaining  governmental 
domain  of  improvements  upon  preempted  sec 
tions,  and  the  assurance  to  owners  under  Federal 
grants  of  certain  and  unimpeachable  rights.  In 
his  general  view  at  that  early  day,  and  before  the 
subject  had  become  one  of  such  vital  apprehension 
as  it  is  now,  he  regarded  with  most  favor  the 

o 

claims  of  small  settlers,  and  he  guarded  with 
jealous  care  against  the  absorption  of  the  public 
domain,  the  people's  inheritance,  by  grasping 
monopolies,  reckless  speculators,  greedy  corpora 
tions,  and  alien  landowners. 

His  decisions  were  rarely  overruled,  and  his 
services  to  the  sections  of  the  country  opened  up 
in  the  days  of  his  administration  have  been  cher 
ished  in  grateful  memory  by  the  people  who  were 
benefited.  On  July  5th,  1865  Senator  Hendricks, 
visiting  St.  Paul,  was  tendered  a  banquet  by  the 
Common  Council  -and  citizens  of  that  place  "in 
recognition  of  his  «"Ood  offices  toward  Minnesota 

o  o 

as  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office  and 
as  United  States  Senator."  In  making  a  journey 
to  San  Francisco  in  1869,  passing  through  Omaha 
he  was  received  with  a  great  popular  ovation,  and 
five  thousand  people  gathered  in  the  evening  to 


TWO   TERMS  IN  CONGRESS.  2  I  5 

honor  him  and  to  listen  to  an  oration  on  the  state 
of  the  country,  in  the  course  of  which  he  applied 
himself  largely  to  the  proper  disposal  of  our  pub 
lic  lands,  and  maintained,  as  he  had  always  held  in 
his  official  position,  that  every  advantage  in  the  dis 
position  of  them  should  be  given  to  the  private 
settler. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

DURING  THE  WAR. 

IN  the  differences  of  the  Democratic  party  im 
mediately  preceding  the  Presidential  struggle 
of  1 860,  and  which  lead  to  its  defeat  that  year, 
the  overwhelming  sentiment  of  the  Indiana  Democ 
racy  was  with  Douglas,  and  Mr.  Hendricks  sym 
pathized  with  it.  He  clearly  foresaw  the  impending 
consequences  of  these  dissensions,  and  was  not 
disposed  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  Gubernatorial 
nomination  of  his  party.  But  circumstances  had 
made  him  the  leader  of  the  Democracy  of  the 
State,  and  with  one  voice  his  fellows  called  upon 
him  to  bs  its  standard-bearer  in  the  great  contest 
which  opened  almost  with  the  year  in  the  State 
Convention  held  on  Jackson's  Day,  January  8th, 
1860.  The  defection  of  Jesse  D.  Bright,  the  old- 
time  Democratic  leader,  aggravated  the  situation, 
but  thus  early  Mr.  Hendricks  had  made  the  reso 
lution  which  he  has  ever  since  adhered  to,  never 
to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  call  of  a  party  which  he 
feels  has  honored  him.  He  took  the  nomination 
and  made  the  fight,  leading  it  not  so  much  for  his 
own  sake  as  for  the  Douglas  electors  and  the  suc 
cess  of  the  National  Democracy  in  their  life-and- 
death  struggle.  Henry  S.  Lane  was  his  opponent 
216 


DURING   THE   WAR.  217 

and  they  canvassed  the  State  in  joint  debate.  The 
Republican  canvass  was  materially  aided  by  Oliver 
P.  Morton,  another  recruit  from  the  Democratic 
ranks,  who  was  the  candidate  for  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor,  with  a  ofoocl  understanding  that  in  the 

o  £5 

event  of  Republican  success  Lane  was  to  be 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  and  Morton 
would  succeed  to  the  Executive  chair  for  nearly  a 
full  term.  All  this  was  realized  in  Lane's  election 
by  a  majority  of  nine  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  fifty-seven,  which  the  Republicans  doubled 
next  month  in  the  Presidential  contest.  Lane  was 
chosen  to  the  Senate  in  three  days  after  his  inaug 
uration,  and  Morton  entered  upon  his  career  as 
"  War  Governor,"  in  which  office  he  showed 
great  ability  and  developed  such  political  resources 
as  made  him  the  unquestioned  captain  of  his  party 
in  Indiana  while  he  lived.  Between  him  and  Hen- 
dricks,  as  the  respective  leaders  of  the  organiza 
tions  thenceforth  to  be  engaged  continually  in 
dubious  conflict,  there  was  the  sharpest  contrast  of 
public  and  private  character.  Their  gladiatorial 
contests,  one  campaign  after  another,  made  them 
conspicuous  figures  before  the  whole  country ;  the 
always  doubtful  issue  in  their  State  and  the  easy 
command  by  each  of  his  respective  organization 
kept  them  in  the  forefront  of  popular  attention, 
and  Indiana  was  proud  of  both.  Morton's  statue 
in  bronze  ornaments  the  "  Circle"  Square  in  In 
dianapolis;  Mr.  Hendricks  lives  in  that  city,  com- 


2  i  8  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

manding  the  universal   respect   of  his   fellow-citi 
zens  who  await  higher  honors  for  him,  but  need  no 
further  formal  distinction  to  signalize  their  appre 
ciation  of  his  public  services  and  personal   worth. 
After  his   deteat  for  Governor,  having   mean 
while   removed    to    Indianapolis,    Mr.    Hendricks 
entered  upon   an   enlarged  law  practice,  without 
relaxing  his   interest   or  abandoning  active   par 
ticipation  in  politics.     Upon    the  gathering  of  the 
war  clouds,  in  common  with  most  of  his  party  and 
all  conservative  men,  he  deprecated  civil  war  and 
favored  any  honorable  constitutional   compromise 
to  avert  its  horrors.     At  a  meeting  of  the  Indiana 
Democracy,    January    8th,    1861,    Mr.    Hendricks 
being  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions, 
it  was  resolved  that  it   was  the  highest  aim  and 
most  imperative  duty  of  patriotism   and   philan 
thropy  to  preserve   the  Union  of  the  States  in  its 
integrity  and  maintain  the  Federal  compact  in  its 
spirit.     His  position  was  subsequently  made  the 
subject  of  bitter  misrepresentation,    to   some   of 
which  he  made  fit  reply  in    this  letter,  which  may 
be  comprehensively  taken    as   the    index    to   his 
political  position  throughout  the  war: 

GOVERNOR  HENDRICKS'  VIEWS  ON  THE  REBELLION. 
A  Letter  to  the  Indianapolis  Journal,   Thursday,  April 
25th,  1861. 

"INDIANAPOLIS,  April  24th. 

"  MR.  EDITOR: — My  attention  has  been  called  to 
an  editorial  in  the  Journal  this  morning,  in  which 


DURING    THE  WAR. 


2I9 


it  is  stated  that  at  a  Union  meeting  held  at  Shel- 
byville  a  few  evenings  since  a  Committee  was 
appointed  to  wait  upon  me,  with  the  request  that 
I  should  speak ;  that,  being  called  upon  by  the 
Committee,  I  refused  to  speak,  saying  that  I  had 
no  hand  in  originating  the  difficulty,  and  would 
have  nothing  to  do  in  extricating  the  country  from 
its  perilous  condition. 

"  The  writer  has  been  wholly  misinformed.  I 
never  heard  of  the  appointment  of  such  a  Commit 
tee,  and  suppose  none  was  appointed.  No  Com 
mittee  waited  upon  me  with  such  a  request,  Had 
I  been  so  honored,  I  certainly  would  have  respond 
ed.  I  have  never  withheld  my  views  upon  any 
question  of  public  interest  from  the  people  of 
Shelby  County.  Upon  all  occasions,  when  it  ap 
peared  proper,  I  have  expressed  my  opinions  in 
relation  to  our  present  troubles.  Since  the  war 
commenced  I  have  uniformly  said  that  the  author 
ity  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  not 
questioned  in  Indiana,  and  that  I  regarded  it  as 
the  duty  of  the  citizens  of  Indiana  to  respect  and 
maintain  that  authority,  and  to  give  the  Govern 
ment  an  honest  and  earnest  support  in  the  prose 
cution  of  the  war,  until,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
it  may  be  brought  to  an  honorable  conclusion,  and 
the  blessings  of  peace  restored  to  our  country, 
postponing  until  that  time  all  controversy  in  re 
lation  to  the  causes  and  responsibilities  of  the 
war.  No  man  will  feel  a  deeper  solicitude  in  the 


2^o  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

welfare  and  proud  bearing  of  Indiana's  soldiery, 
in  the  conflict  of  arms  to  which  they  are  called, 
than  myself. 

"  Allow  me  to  add,  that  in  my  judgment,  a  citizen 
or  newspaper  is  not  serving  the  country  well  in 
the  present  crisis  by  attempting  to  give  a  partisan 
aspect  to  the  war,  or  by  seeking  to  pervert  the 
cause  of  the  country  to  party  ends. 
"Respectfully, 

"THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS." 

In  this  manly  statement  of  a  patriotic  position, 
from  which  no  partisan  consideration  nor  any  tide 
of  passion  ever  swerved  him,  is  to  be  found  the 
most  effective  answer  to  profuse  misstatements 
which  have  been  indulged  in  by  his  enemies. 
Throughout  the  war  his  party  in  Indiana  was 
often  radically  intolerant,  and  as  frequently  it  was 
the  subject  of  unmitigated  persecution  and  radical 
misrepresentation,  but  throughout  these  stormy 
times  Mr.  Hendricks  kept  the  respect  and  confi 
dence  of  his  native  State,  conserved  the  fiercer 
antagonisms  of  the  day,  and  on  the  first  occasion 
of  political  preferment  was  vindicated  by  election 
to  the  United  States  Senate. 

Hon.  Joseph  E.  McDonald,  his  political  asso 
ciate  and  friend  of  many  years  standing,  has  borne 
this  discriminating  testimony  to  the  honorable 
attitude  of  Mr.  Hendricks  during  the  war  period  : 
"The  fact  that  he  was  a  leader  of  the  Democratic 
party  during  the  war,  and  that  neither  the  insinua- 


DURING    THE   WAR.  2oT 

tions  nor  the  insults  of  wily  opponents  ever  pro 
voked  from  him  one  act  or  one  expression  not 
reverential  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
country,  I  regard  as  something  well  worth  re 
membering.  He  could  never  be  driven  to  an 
utterance  possible  to  torture  or  construe  into 
anything  like  hostility  to  the  Union  or  enmity  to 
any  candid  effort  for  its  preservation.  With  his 
reasons  for  apprehension  that  our  system  of  gov 
ernment  was  to  be  hopelessly  injured,  occupying 
the  position  he  did,  the  most  conspicuous  figure 
for  party  malignity  in  the  Republic,  his  motives 
purposely  misinterpreted  and  his  slightest  mis 
take  liable  to  be  largely  magnified,  his  course  was 
such  as  attested  the  loftiest  public  worth." 

His  patriotism  was  appreciated  and  recognized 
by  those  who  best  knew  him  and  who  fathomed 
his  motives.  Often  waiving  his  own  judgment  to 
sustain  the  Government  in  its  extremity,  he  was 
the  friend  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  that  great  and 
good  man  gave  him  patient  hearing  when  he  went 
to  appeal  for  the  preservation  of  constitutional 
law  by  Executive  interposition  to  prevent  the 
hanging  of  Milliken  and  Bowles,  the  two  Indiana 
victims  of  military  courts,  whose  execution 
would  have  defaced  our  civil  annals  with  ineradi 
cable  stain  had  not  the  tempestuous  eloquence 
and  overpowering  logic  of  Judge  Black  "  shook 
the  arsenal "  and  arrested  the  faltering  judgment 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  Upon  the  occasion  of  that 


222       LIF&  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

interview  President  Lincoln  spoke  warmly  to  Mr. 
Hendricks  in  commendation  of  peace  proposals,  and 
detained  him  in  counsel  for  two  hours,  while  the 
agents  of  the  Republican  party  in  Indiana  cooled 
their  heels  outside,  though  they  abated  none  of 
their  clamor  for  the  blood  of  the  men  whom  they 
sought  to  hang  by  drum  head  processes  of 
justice. 

In  June,  1 863,  upon  the  exciting  popular  question 
of  the  enrollment  and  the  draft,  Hendricks  made  a 
speech  to  the  people  of  Rushville,  Rush  County,  In 
diana,  in  which  he  urged  the  necessity  of  obedience 
to  the  act  and  to  all  Constitutional  enactments, 
both  as  a  matter  of  duty  upon  the  part  of  the  citi 
zens,  and  as  the  best  means  of  preserving  peace 
and  order.  In  the  course  of  this  address  he  said: 
"  Respect  for  legitimate  authority  and  obedience 
to  law  has  lonof  been  the  cherished  sentiment  of 

o 

the  political  party  to  which  it  is  my  pride  to 
belong.  The  dangerous  doctrine  that  the  con 
science  of  the  citizen  may  sit  in  judgment  upon  laws 
enacted  in  proper  form,  with  a  view  to  their  resist 
ance,  has  never  been  adopted  by  any  considerable 
portion  of  the  people  of  this  State,  and  has  at  ail 
times  been  bitterly  opposed  by  the  Democracy?'  A 
better  exposition  of  the  genius  of  Democracy  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find. 

In  the  campaign  of  1872,  Governor  Morton 
Jiavincr  charged  that  Hendricks,  as  a  Senator,  had 
opposed  every  war  measure,  Mr,  Hendricks  con- 


DURING    THE   WAR.  22, 

dusively  answered  by  showing  that  he  had  voted 
for  the  armyappropriation  bills  during  his  term,and 
particularly  for  that  which  sent  Sherman  triumph 
ant  in  his  march  to  the  sea,  replenished  the  ranks 
of  Grant  before  Petersburg,  and  gave  vigor  and 
success  to  all  subordinate  operations  of  the  war. 
That  bill  of  five  hundred  and  twenty-eight  mil 
lion  dollars  for  such  purposes  was  the  largest  ap 
propriation  ever  made  on  earth. 

Mr.  Hendricks  never  lacked  appreciation  of 
the  gallantry  and  heroism  of  the  true  soldier,  and 
in  a  letter  to  the  managers  of  a  banquet  to  Gen 
eral  Sherman,  in  Indianapolis,  July  25th,  1865,  he 
wrote:  "I  am  gratified  that  his  old  associates  in 
arms  now  in  this  city  have  determined  in  a  suita 
ble  and  elegant  manner  to  do  honor  to  one  of 
the  most  gifted  and  illustrious  captains  of  this  age, 
whose  skillful  leadership  of  his  gallant  and  grand 
army  has  shed  so  much  lustre  on  American  arms 
and  contributed  so  greatly  to  restore  peace  for 
the  country,  and  whose  enlightened  policy  and 
spirited  magnanimity  toward  the  enemy  in  the 
hour  of  their  defeat  has  reflected  credit  upon  our 
character  and  people."* 

*  Again,  before  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  Indianapolis,  November  1st, 
1878,  he  said,  "The  name  of  the  great  captain  whose  genius  conceived 
and  whose  strategic  and  tactical  skill  conducted  the  march  to  the  sea,  will 
live  in  the  memory  of  the  Indiana  school-boy  long  after  Xenophon's 
memorable  march  shall  have  been  forgotten  by  scholars." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

IN   THE    SENATE    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

THE  political  reaction  came  v^ery  early  in 
Indiana.  In  the  election  of  1862  the 
Democrats  obtained  a  majority  of  the 
Legislature  on  joint  ballot,  and  there  never  was 
any  doubt  that  it  would  elect  Mr.  Hendricks  to 
the  Senate,  such  was  his  pre-eminence  in  his 
party.  He  was  elected  early  in  1863  and 
entered  the  United  States  Senate  on  the  4th 
of  March  of  that  year.  Into  that  body  he  took 
the  qualities  which  had  distinguished  him  in 
his  previous  public  experience,  and  his  urbanity 
of  disposition  won  for  him  many  friends  among 
his  colleagues,  irrespective  of  party.  The  Demo 
crats  in  the  Senate  were  overshadowed  by  an 
adverse  majority,  but  maintained  their  organiza 
tion  with  unflinching  courage  in  the  face  of  the  bitter 
hostility  which  was  born  of  the  excitement  of  the 
war  period  and  the  malignant  popular  misrepre 
sentation  to  which  the  opposition  to  the  Adminis 
tration  was  subjected.  The  reputation  which  had 
preceded  him  and  his  recognized  ability  gained 
for  him  early  a  place  in  the  leadership  of  his  party 
in  the  Senate,  and  he  served  with  distinction  and 

industry  on    the    Committees   of  Claims,    Public 
224 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     22? 

Buildings,  Judiciary,  Public  Lands,  and  Naval 
Affairs.  That  his  Senatorial  experience  in  that 
critical  epoch  worked  no  depreciation  of  his  worth 
in  popular  estimation  is  best  proved  by  the  suc 
cess  of  his  subsequent  political  career.  His  re 
lations  with  the  politics  of  that  period  are  thus 
summed  up  by  a  discriminating"  critic*  of  public 
men  and  measures  : 

"He  was  a  Democratic  Senator  in  the  most 
trying  times  of  the  war,  when  many  less  faithful 
or  less  discreet  men  made  hopeless  shipwreck  of 
their  political  future,  but  the  record  of  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks  has  stood  the  severest  test  and  is  con 
spicuous  for  its  freedom  from  the  partisan  blun 
ders  which  then  and  since  have  ranked  as  crimes. 

"  The  sweep  of  Republicanism  over  the  North 
as  a  necessity  to  sustain  the  Lincoln  Administra 
tion,  carried  Indiana  with  it,  and  anchored  it  in 
the  Republican  column  under  Oliver  P.  Morton, 
the  ablest  politician  and  statesman  of  the  oppo 
sition.  Mr.  Hendricks  fell  himself  in  one  of  Mor 
ton's  great  battles,  but  he  then,  as  ever  before 
and  after,  proved  himself  stronger  than  his  party  ; 
and  he  was  the  first  of  the  overthrown  Demo 
cratic  chieftains  to  recover  his  State." 

For  four  years  of  his  Senatorial  term  he  was 
the  colleague  of  Senator  Lane,  and  for  the  re 
maining  two  years  Governor  Morton,  who  suc 
ceeded  Lane,  was  his  junior  colleague.  It  was  in 

*  Colonel  A.  K.  McClure  in  Philadelphia  Times,  April  25th,  1880. 


226  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HEND RICKS. 

the  discussion  of  the  reconstruction  questions  that 
Mr.  Hendricks  took  most  prominence,  and  upon 
one  occasion,  January  3Oth,  1868,  he  engaged  in 
'  masterly  dispute  with  Morton  on  the  vital  issue 
of  all  the  reconstruction  debate.  It  was  of  that 
speech  that  ex-Senator  McDonald  has  recently 
said  :  "  I  was  in  Washington  during  Mr.  Hen 
dricks'  Senatorial  term,  and  heard  his  speech  in 
reply  to  Morton,  who  favored  a  military  bill  then 
up  for  discussion.  It  was  certainly  the  ablest  ef 
fort  of  Mr.  Hendricks'  life,  and  I  do  not  remem 
ber  ever  to  have  heard  a  more  adroit,  earnest,  and 
eloquent  discourse.  It  had  a  marked  influence  at 
the  time,  and  won  the  highest  order  of  admiration 
from  his  opponents."  Mr.  Hendricks  had  shared 
Mr.  Lincoln's  friendship  and  confidence,  and  knew 
his  disposition  toward  the  South.  He  was  fre 
quently  at  the  White  House  and  was  always 
warmly  and  cordially  welcomed  there.  In  March, 
1865,  just  before  the  assassination,  after  the  ad 
journment  of  the  Senate,  Mr.  Hendricks  called 
on  Lincoln  to  bid  him  good-bye.  He  took  the 
Senator  kindly  by  the  hand  and  said :  "  I  know, 
Hendricks,  that  you  are  a  Democrat;  but  you 
have  treated  my  Administration  fairly,  and  I  think 
it  is  due  you  now  to  say  to  you  that  things  will 
shortly  assume  a  shape  across  the  river  [turning 
and  pointing  to  the  Potomac]  when  I  can  have  a 
general  jubilee."  It  was  certainly  the  purpose  of 
the  President  to  have  offered  the  South  a  gener- 


IN  THE. SENATE  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ous  policy  of  reconstruction,  which  would  prob 
ably  have  alienated  from  him  the  Radicals  of  his 
own  party,  but  as  certainly  would  have  com 
manded  for  him  the  confidence  of  the  late  rebel 
lious  States  and  the  co-operation  of  the  great 
conservative  element  of  the  North. 

His  tragic  taking  off,  alas  !  interrupted  this.  His 
successor  was  not  able  to  carry  out  the  work,  if 
he  even  rightly  understood  his  fallen  chief's 
purposes  and  plans.  But  throughout  the  debate 
that  ensued  over  the  restoration  of  political  rights 
to  the  Southern  States  Mr.  Hendricks  maintained 
by  law  and  logic  what  he  believed  to  be  the  posi 
tion  of  Mr.  Lincoln  with  regard  to  them,  and 
favored  what  he  thought  would  have  been  the 
practical  policy  of  the  murdered  President.  That 
policy  he  proved  most  conclusively,  in  his  speech 
of  January,  1868,  by  citations  from  the  speeches 
of  Morton  and  Wade  of  a  few  years  before,  to 
have  been  in  accordance  with  the  Democratic 
theory  of  1868.  For  instance,  he  quoted  this  pas 
sage  from  a  speech  by  Morton  : 

"From  the  beginning  of  the  war  up  to  the  pres 
ent  time,  every  message  of  the  President,  every 
proclamation,  every  State  paper,  and  every  act  of 
Congress,  has  proceeded  upon  the  hypothesis  that 
no  State  could  secede  from  the  Union ;  that  once 
in  the  Union,  always  in  the  Union.  Mr.  Lincoln, 
in  every  proclamation,  went  on  the  principle  that 
this  was  an  insurrection,  a  rebellion  against  the 


228  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HE ND RICKS. 

Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States ;  not 
a  rebellion  of  States,  but  a  rebellion  of  the  indi 
viduals,  the  people  of  the  several  Southern  States ; 
and  every  man  who  went  into  it  was  personally 
and  individually  responsible  for  his  acts,  and  could 
not  shield  himself  under  the  action  or  authority  of 
his  State.  He  went  on  the  principle  that  every 
ordinance  of  secession,  every  act  of  the  Legisla 
tures  of  the  rebel  States  in  that  direction,  was  a 
nullity,  unconstitutional  and  void,  having  no  legal 
force  or  effect  whatever,  and  that  as  these  States 
were,  according  to  law,  in  the  Union,  their  stand 
ing  could  not  be  affected  by  the  action  of  the  peo 
ple  ;  that  the  people  of  these  States  were 
personally  responsible  for  their  conduct,  just  as  a 
man  is  responsible  who  violates  the  statute  in  re 
gard  to  the  commission  of  murder,  and  to  be 
treated  as  criminals,  just  as  the  authorities  thought 
proper;  that  the  people  of  a  State  can  forfeit 
their  rights,  but  that  so  far  as  their  action  is  con 
cerned,  in  a  legal  point  of  view,  they  had  no  power 
to  affect  the  condition  of  the  State  in  the  Union. 
Every  proclamation  and  every  act  of  Congress 
have  proceeded  upon  this  hypothesis." 

Senator  Wade  also  had  said  in  the  Thirty- 
eighth  Congress : 

"  It  has  been  contended  in  the  House  of  Rep 
resentatives,  it  has  been  contended  upon  this  floor, 
that  the  States  may  lose  their  organizations,  may 
lose  their  rights  as  States,  may  lose  their  corpo- 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


229 


rate  capacity,  by  rebellion.  I  utterly  deny  that 
doctrine.  I  hold  that  once  a  State  of  this  Union, 
always  a  State ;  that  you  cannot  by  wrong  and 
violence  displace  the  rights  of  anybody  or  disor 
ganize  the  State.  It  would  be  a  most  hazardous 
principle  to  assert  that.  No,  sir ;  the  framers  of 
of  your  Constitution  intended  no  such  thing.  And 
how  gentlemen,  with  this  principle  of  the  Consti 
tution  staring  them  in  the  face,  can  fancy  that 
States  can  lose  their  rights  because  more  or  less 
of  the  people  have  gone  off  into  rebellion,  is  mar 
velous  to  me." 

Mr.  Hendricks  turned  these  arguments  most 
effectually  upon  the  opposition  in  the  establishment 
of  his  theory  that  the  existence  of  a  State  which 
had  been  in  rebellion,  "  its  organization  as  a  State, 
its  Constitution,  which  was  the  bond  of  its  organiza 
tion,  continued  all  the  way  through  the  war ;  and 
when  peace  came  it  found  the  State  with  its  Con 
stitution  and  laws  unrepealed  and  in  full  force, 
holding  that  State  to  the  Federal  Union,  except 
all  laws  enacted  in  aid  of  the  Rebellion."  In  fur 
ther  support  of  his  position,  Mr.  Hendricks  said : 

"  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  most  express  terms,  in  most 
emphatic  language,  in  language  at  the  time  some 
what  offensive  to  some  members  of  his  own  party, 
held  the  same  doctrine  ;  and  I  call  the  attention 
of  Senators  to  the  proclamation  to  which  I  refer. 
In  the  first  place,  Mr.  Lincoln,  on  the  8th  of  De 
cember,  1863,  issued  a  proclamation,  first,  of  gen- 


230  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A. 

eral  amnesty  to  those  who  would  take  a  prescribed 
oath,  and  then  assuring  them  that  if  the  people  of 
these  States  would  recognize  State  Governments 
loyal  in  their  character  the  Executive  would  re 
spect  and,  under  this  clause  of  the  Constitution, 
would  guarantee  those  Governments.  Here  is 
his  language — not  calling  upon  Congress  as  the 
source  of  power  for  the  action  of  the  people,  but 
appealing  directly  to  the  people  independently  of 
Congress.  He  says  that  if  they  will  reorganize 
their  State  Governments,  such  shall  be  recog 
nized  as  the  true  Government  of  the  State,  and 
the  State  shall  receive  thereunder  the  benefits  of 
the  Constitutional  provision  which  declares  that 
'the  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State 
in  this  Union  a  republican  form  of  government,'" 
etc. 

He  further  reminded  his  Republican  colleagues 
that  the  Winter  Davis  bill  passed  on  the  last  day 
or  two  of  the  first  session  of  the  Thirty-eighth 
Congress.  It  provided  a  legislative  mode  of  re 
organization,  a  legislative  policy.  Instead  of 
acting  under  that  bill,  Lincoln  threw  it  back  in  the 
face  of  Congress,  and  said  that  Congress  should 
not  tie  his  hands  to  any  particular  mode  of  re 
organization.  Such  was  his  proclamation,  dated 
on  the  8th  day  of  July,  1864,  after  he  had  been  re- 
nominated  ;  and  after  that  he  was  re-elected  by 
his  party.  Continuing  his  illustrations  and  cita 
tions,  he  made  unanswerable  statement  of  the 


IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      2^T 

o 

Democratic  position  and  convincing  proof  that  it 
was  the  policy  of  Lincoln.  He  reviewed  with 
master  hand  the  wrongs  and  oppression  of  carpet 
bag  Governments  and  military  satrapies  in  the 
South,  and  forcibly  arraigned  the  Republican 
Congress  for  its  infractions  of  the  Constitution. 

Knowing  the  hopelessness  of  an  appeal  to 
reason  or  justice  on  the  part  of  the  majority,  but 
looking  to  the  country  and  the  future,  he  said : 
"  There  are  not  many  of  us  in  the  minority  here, 
but  few  as  we  are,  we  feel  that  we  are  standing  in 
the  Thermopylae  of  our  country's  history,  and  I 
believe  there  will  not  one  flee  from  the  combat." 
It  will  hardly  be  disputed  in  the  light  of  subse 
quent  history  that  the  minority  in  that  eventful 
struggle  were  right. 

During  the  impeachment  trial  of  Andrew 
Johnson,  when  Benjamin  Wade,  acting  Vice-Presi 
dent,  took  his  seat  as  one  of  the  triers  in  the  case 
and  proposed  to  exercise  his  Senatorial  preroga 
tive  to  vote  on  the  question  of  Johnson's  guilt  or 
innocence,  himself  being  next  in  succession,  Mr. 
Hendricks  challenged  him  and  forcibly  stated  the 
objections  to  such  an  assumption  when  he  de 
clared  that  "  no  man  should  help  to  take  from  the 
President  his  office  when  that  man  is  to  fill  the 
office  if  the  proceeding  succeed."  The  question 
thus  raised  was  characterized  by  Mr.  Sumner  as 
one  "of  much  novelty,"  and  in  its  different  parlia 
mentary  phases  it  was  the  subject  of  a  two  days' 


232       LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

debate.  It  was  finally  made  a  point  of  order  that 
a  motion  to  postpone  the  swearing  in  of  Mr. 
Wade  was  out  of  order,  "  under  the  rules  and 
under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States." 
Chief  Justice  Chase  submitted  the  point  for  debate, 
and  after  a  prolonged  discussion  Mr.  Hendricks 
withdrew  his  objection,  because  Senator  Bayard 
and  other  of  his  colleagues  who  agreed  with  him 
on  the  merits  of  the  case  were  of  the  opinion  that 
the  question  ought  more  properly  to  be  raised 
when  the  court  was  fully  organized. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

TWO    GUBERNATORIAL    CAMPAIGNS. 

HIS  leadership  in  the  Senate  was  so  marked, 
and  his  exposition  of  the  Democratic 
position  so  candid,  fair,  and  able,  that  Mr. 
Hendricks  in  1868  was  a  leading  candidate  of  his 
party  for  President.  In  the  National  Convention 
held  in  New  York  his  name  was  received  with 
great  enthusiasm,  and  was  supported  by  many 
votes  through  the  twenty-one  ballots  in  which  the 
Convention  sought  to  reach  a  decision  between 
the  eighteen  names  before  it.  On  the  twenty-first 
ballot  Hancock  led  with  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  and  a  half  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  for 
Hendricks,  when  the  break  was  made  for  Seymour 
and  he  became  the  unwilling  nominee  by  acclaim. 
Mr.  Hendricks  never  sulked  in  his  tent.  From 
the  moment  the  choice  of  the  Convention  was 
made  it  had  his  loyal  support.  Much  against  his 
inclination,  he  was  nominated  unanimously  by  his 
party  in  Indiana  for  Governor,  but  he  shrank  not 
from  carrying  the  standard  placed  in  his  hand, 
and,  after  a  most  exciting  joint  debate  over  the 
the  State  with  his  opponent,  Conrad  Baker  (sub 
sequently  and  at  present  associated  with  the 
Hendricks  law-firm),  Mr.  Hendricks  was  defeated 

233 


LIFE    OF  THOMAS  A.  HE ND RICKS 

on  the  face  of  the  returns  by  nine  hundred  and 
forty-two  plurality.  For  four  years  following  he 
devoted  himself  assiduously  to  the  practice  of  his 
profession.  When  the  disintegration  of  parties 
was  threatened  in  1872  he  anticipated  an  organic 
union  of  many  elements  of  the  Republican  party 
with  the  Democratic  and  thought  this  could  be  best 
accomplished  by  the  nomination  of  Hon.  David 
Davis  in  the  Liberal  Republican  Convention  in 
Cincinnati.  Disappointed  at  the  selection  of  Mr. 
Greeley,  he  yielded  to  the  party  sentiment  which 
ratified  that  nomination  at  Baltimore,  and  was 
aofain  without  dissent  made  the  candidate  of  his 

o 

party  for  Governor,  being  pitted  on  this  occasion 
against  General  "  Tom "  Browne,  the  popular 
Republican  nominee. 

The  campaign  of  1872  in  Indiana  was  the  best 
fought  battle  that  the  Democratic  organization  of 
that  State  ever  made.  It  had  slight  equipment  of 
money,  but  conducted  the  canvass  in  the  most 
thorough  manner.  It  was  a  hand-to-hand  conflict, 
Morton  leading  the  opposition  to  save  his  State 
for  his  party.  Nothing  but  the  power  of  Hen- 
dricks  and  his  personal  popularity  prevented  utter 
defeat  for  the  Democrats.  The  Legislature  was 
lost,  and  the  entire  State  ticket,  except  Superinten 
dent  of  Public  Instruction  and  Governor,  to  which 
latter  office  Hendricks  was  elected  by  one  thou 
sand,  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  over  Browne. 

The  overwhelming  defeat  of  his  party  in  the 


TWO  GUBERNATORIAL    CAMPAIGNS.  ~^f 

2o5 

other  sections  of  the  country  that  year  abated  for 
a  season  Democratic  interest  in  National  politics, 
but  a  single  circumstance  of  the  times  proves  the 
hold  which  the  Governor  of  Indiana  had  on  the 
affections  and  respect  of  his  party  at  large.  The 
Greeley  electors  had  been  chosen  in  Maryland, 
Georgia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Missouri,  and 
Texas — a  total  of  sixty-eight.  After  the  election 
and  before  the  meeting  of  the  Electoral  College, 
Mr.  Greeley  died,  quickly  following  his  beloved 
wife,  at  whose  death-bed  he  had  been  watcher 
and  mourner  during  that  fiery  canvass.  The  un 
precedented  and  unprovided  for  contingency  of  a 
party  with  a  certain  number  of  electoral  votes  being 
left  without  a  candidate  had  occurred — as  it  is  lia 
ble  to  happen  any  time,  though  no  party  has  taken 
warning  from  this  notable  experience  to  provide 
for  it.  When  the  Democratic  electors,  in  their 
several  States,  thus  freed  from  obligation  to  the 
nominee  of  the  National  Convention,  were  left  to 
their  free  choice,  forty-two  of  them  voted  for  Mr. 
Hendricks,  while  eighteen  voted  for  B.  Gratz 
Brown,  the  candidate  for  Vice-President,  two  for 
Chas.  J.  Jenkins,  and  one  for  David  Davis. 

Mr.  Hendricks  was  inaugurated  Governor  Jan 
uary  1 3th,  1873,  and  began  an  administration 
marked  by  his  characteristic  conservatism,  close 
attention  to  details,  practical  wisdom  and  good 
judgment  upon  public  questions.  The  integrity 
of  his  motives  and  conduct  was  never  called  into 


236 


LIFE    OF  THOMAS  A.   HENDRICKS. 


question.  With  a  wise  system  of  State  govern 
ment,  which  had  not  suffered  from  serious  malad 
ministration  of  its  internal  affairs,  the  Common 
wealth  of  Indiana  was  in  fairly  prosperous  condition 
when  he  found  it,  and  his  administration  improved 
its  healthful  state. 

One  of  his  official  acts  which  provoked  conten 
tion  and  criticism  was  his  approval  of  the  Baxter 
bill  of  a  Republican  Legislature,  regarded  in  some 
quarters  as  an  extreme  temperance  measure  and 
distasteful  to  an  element  of  his  party  which  had 
given  him  political  support.  The  enactment  was 
not  in  accordance  with  his  views  of  legislation,  but 
had  been  passed  by  both  branches  of  the  Assem 
bly  upon  the  recommendation  of  his  predecessor. 
Although  he  knew  the  bill  would  become  a  law, 
whether  approved  by  him  or  not,  Governor  Hen- 
dricks  would  have  been  willing  to  interpose  the 
Executive  veto  if  he  could  have  found  a  constitu 
tional  objection  of  substantial  weight  to  the  meas 
ure,  but  this  not  appearing,  he  signed  it.  With 
characteristic  frankness  and  fearlessness  he  went 
into  the  next  State  Convention  of  his  party  to  dis 
cuss  the  issue  raised  by  his  approval  of  the  bill ; 
and  being  made  Chairman  of  the  Convention, 
he  addressed  it  at  length  upon  current  topics, 
making  this  reference  to  the  Baxter  bill : 

"I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  its  provisions 
were  not  in  violation  of  the  Constitution.  It  was 
not  a  case  of  hasty  or  inconsiderate  legislation. 


TWO  GUBERNATORIAL    CAMPAIGNS.  0  ^  ~ 

20/ 

It  was  deliberately  considered  in  both  branches 
of  the  Legislature.  Believing  the  bill  to  be  con 
stitutional,  and  that  it  expressed  the  deliberate 
judgment  and  will  of  the  Legislature,  it  was  my 
duty  to  sign  it.  /  believe  the  veto  power  is  con 
ferred  to  arrest  unconstitutional  and  hasty  legisla 
tion,  and  legislation  in  derogation  of  fundamental 
and  essential  rights,  such  as  the  equality  of  represen 
tation,  and  not  to  enable  the  Governor  to  oppose  his 
opinions  to  those  of  the  peoples  immediate  represen 
tatives  upon  questions  of  mere  policy  or  police  regu 
lation.  That  law  has  not  received  the  popular 
support  necessary  to  make  it  efficient.  It  has 
encountered  determined  hostility  on  the  part  of 
those  engaged  in  the  liquor  business,  and  for 
many  months  extreme  temperance  people,  in  a 
very  extraordinary  manner,  have  shown  an  un 
willingness  to  abide  by  its  provisions. 

"  Propositions  will  be  brought  before  the  next 
Legislature  for  the  material  modification  or  repeal 
of  the  law.  What  legislation  shall  take  its  place? 
Our  Supreme  Court  has  declared  absolute  pro 
hibition  to  be  unconstitutional,  and  experience, 
I  believe,  has  shown  it  to  be  impracticable.  It 
then  only  remains  to  regulate  the  traffic. 

"  Any  useful  law  must  rest  upon  the  proposi 
tion  that  there  are  serious  evils  to  society  and  to 
individuals  connected  with  the  traffic  in  intoxica 
ting  liquors  which  it  is  the  province  of  the  law  to 
restrain  and  prevent.  Sales  should  not  be  made 


238      LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

to  boys;  and  if  necessary  to  prevent  it,  the  boy 
who  misrepresents  or  conceals  his  age  to  obtain 
liquor  should  be  punished  as  well  as  the  party 
who  knowingly  sells  to  him.  Drunkenness  should 
be  punished  as  well  as  selling  to  the  intoxicated. 
All  sales  should  be  forbidden  when  the  public 
peace  or  safety  requires  it ;  and,  like  other  pur 
suits,  it  should  be  suspended  in  the  night  time. 
Perhaps  the  hour  now  fixed  is  unnecessarily  and 
inconveniently  early,  but  society  should  be  pro 
tected  from  the  disturbances  and  bloodshed  inci 
dent  to  the  traffic  in  the  middle  of  the  night. 

"I  think  it  might  properly  be  considered  whether 
a  difference  in  regulation  could  not  safely  be  made 
for  the  sale  of  vinous  and  malt  liquors  and  the 
stronger  and  more  intoxicating  drinks.  There  is 
certainly  a  great  difference  in  the  evils  that  result 
from  their  use. 

"With  these  and  such  other  provisions  as  may 
seem  reasonable  and  necessary,  I  think  experi 
ence  justifies  the  adoption  of  the  license  system. 
The  amount  required  for  the  license  in  each  case 
should  be  greater  than  heretofore.  It  should 

o 

be  sufficient  to  make  the  party  selling  feel  that 
his  interest  is  identified  with  that  of  society  in 
preserving  order  and  good  conduct  at  his  place 
of  business,  and  avoiding  all  violations  of  law. 
This  policy  will  bring  a  large  revenue  into  the 
school  fund,  and  will  prove  more  efficient  in  sup 
pressing  the  evils  of  intemperance  than  the 


TWO  GUBERNATORIAL    CAMPAIGNS.  2^Q 

present  system.  I  cannot  appreciate  the  objec 
tion  that  by  receiving  a  license  fee  society  uses 
money  received  from  an  improper  source.  Un 
der  the  present  law  the  State  grants  the  permit 
and  declares  the  business  lawful.  Under  a  policy 
which  we  have  long  maintained,  every  violation 
of  our  criminal  law  that  is  punished  by  fines  adds 
to  the  school  fund.  No  law  upon  this  subject  can 
be  useful  unless  supported  by  public  opinion  in 
its  favor.  The  wise  legislator  considers  the  weak 
ness  as  well  as  the  strength,  the  follies  as  well  as 
the  wisdom,  of  man,  and  adapts  the  laws  to  his 
real  wants  and  necessities." 

The  eminent  wisdom  of  his  position  and  the 
practical  results  of  it  were  demonstrated  by  sub 
sequent  events.  He  followed  his  speeches  in  the 
Convention  and  on  the  stump  with  recommenda 
tions  to  the  Legislature.  The  Baxter  bill  was  re 
pealed,  a  license  system  substituted  that  has  con 
tributed  millions  to  the  school  fund  of  Indiana, 
the  evils  of  intemperance  were  mitigated,  while 
the  legitimate  liquor  and  beer  traffic  was  placed 
upon  a  basis  and  subject  to  a  regulation  far  more 
satisfactory  to  those  engaged  in  it. 

The  extract  from  his  speech  on  the  Baxter 
bill,  which  is  italicized  in  the  foregoing  citation,  is 
a  commendable  view  of  the  veto  power,  of  which 
few  Executives  have  shown  such  intelligent  com 
prehension. 

Upon  one  occasion   during  his  term  as   Gov- 


240 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRTCKS. 


ernor  the  Legislature  of  Indiana  adjourned  with 
out  completing  its  business.  Governor  Hendricks 
brought  it  back  straightway.  His  admonition  that 
the  neglected  measures  required  little  time,  and 
that  the  members,  having  not  yet  left  the  capital, 
had  not  earned  mileage,  brought  about  a  prompt 
dispatch  of  the  neglected  business  and  prevented 
unnecessary  prolongation  of  the  extra  session. 

During  his  term  as  Governor,  December  29th, 
1874,  at  the  opening  exercises  of  the  State  Teach 
ers'  Association,  he  delivered  an  address  full  of 
thoughtful  concern  for  the  educational  interests 
of  the  State,  which  always  had  his  earnest  atten 
tion. 

Under  his  administration  the  debt  of  the  State, 
which  is  now  no  considerable  amount,  was  largely 
taken  up,  the  credit  of  the  Commonwealth  sus 
tained  and  enhanced,  and  its  material  affairs  pros 
pered.  It  was  duringthis  period  that  the  financial 
issue  threatened  to  divide  the  Democracy.  As  a 
sufficient  answer  to  the  misrepresentation  which 
Mr.  Hendricks'  attitude  toward  this  question  has 
been  subject  to,  there  is  appended  here  an  extract 
from  his  speech  in  the  Convention  of  1878.  From 
these  sentiments  he  never  departed,  though  the 
Indiana  Platforms  in  some  degree  had  tran 
scended  his  views  and  also  that  of  the  Ohio  De 
mocracy,  in  the  campaign  when  he  went  over  to 
help  them,  but  he  invariably  steered  his  course 
consistently  with  these  sentiments ; 


TWO  GUBERNATORIAL    CAMPAIGNS.  241 

"We  desire  a  return  to  specie  payments.  It  is 
a  serious  evil  when  there  are  commercial  mediums 
of  different  values;  when  one  description  of  our 
money  is  for  one  class  and  purpose,  and  another 
for  a  different  class  and  purpose.  We  cannot  too 
strongly  express  the  importance  of  the  policy  that 
shall  restore  uniformity  of  value  to  all  the  money 
of  the  country,  so  that  it  shall  be  always  and  read 
ily  convertible.  That  gold  and  silver  are  the 
real  standard  of  value  is  a  cherished  Democratic 
sentiment  not  now  or  hereafter  to  be  abandoned. 
But  I  do  not  look  to  any  arbitrary  enactment  of 
Congress  for  a  restoration  of  specie  payments. 
Such  an  effort  now  would  probably  produce  wide 
spread  commercial  disaster.  A  Congressional  dec 
laration  cannot  make  the  paper  currency  equal  to 
gold  in  value.  It  cannot  make  a  bank  note  equal  to 
your  dollar.  The  business  of  the  country  alone  can 
do  that.  When  we  find  the  coin  of  the  country  in 
creasing,  then  we  may  know  that  we  are  moving  in 
the  direction  of  specie  payments.  The  important 
financial  question  is,  How  can  we  increase  and 
make  permanent  our  supply  of  gold  ?  The  reliable 
solution  is  by  increasing  our  productions  and 
thereby  reducing  our  purchases,  and  increasing 
our  sales  abroad.  He  can  readily  obtain  money 
who  produces  more  than  he  consumes  of  articles 
that  are  wanted  in  the  market,  and  I  suppose  that 
is  also  true  of  communities  and  nations." 


CHAPTER  X. 

ELECTED    VICE-PRESIDENT   AND    COUNTED   OUT. 

WITH  such  a  loyal  support  of  his  party 
in  his  own  State  as  no  man  as  ever 
retained  in  American  politics,  and  with 
an  unchallenged  place  in  the  front  rank  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Democracy  of  the  whole  country  as 
he  had  now  come  to  hold,  popular  sentiment  made 
Mr.  Hendricks  one  of  the  two  conspicuous  candi 
dates  of  his  party  for  the  Democratic  Presidential 
nomination  in  1876.  He  had  proved  his  states 
manship  in  long  and  honorable  public  service,  his 
integrity  had  never  been  assailed,  he  had  led  the 
battles  of  his  party  for  supremacy  in  Indiana,  and 
he  had  demonstrated  his  ability  to  carry  that  State, 
one  of  the  pivotal  points  of  the  electoral  struggle. 
In  the  St.  Louis  Convention  his  name  was  pre 
sented  by  Mr.  Williams,  seconded  by  Mr.  Fuller, 
both  of  Indiana,  and  Mr.  Campbell,  of  Tennessee, 
for  his  delegation,  spoke  in  favor  of  Hendricks' 
nomination.  But  in  the  long  struggle  of  the  Reso 
lutions  Committee  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Tilden 
had  secured  the  vantage  ground  by  successful 
advocacy  of  the  "  hard  money "  platform.  The 
first  ballot  practically  decided  the  result.  It  was 
as  follows: 
242 


ELECTED  VICE-PRESIDENT  AND  COUNTED  OUT.     043 

FIRST   BALLOT,   ST.    LOUIS   CONVENTION,    1876. 


STATES. 

d 

<u 

2 

£ 

Hendricks. 

Hancock. 

>J 

<U 

1 

i, 

d 

8 

fl 

r^J 
< 

Broadhead. 

New  York  

7° 

26 

10 

2T. 

California  

12 

Maine  

14 

Arkansas  

12 

Colorado 

6 

Connecticut 

12 

Alabama                                          . 

\T. 

5 

2 

Iowa  

14 

6 

2 

Indiana  

3° 

Kansas  

10 

C 

I 

16 

Virginia                                       . 

17 

i 

...... 

New  Hampshire  

IO 

IO 

New  Jersey  

T8 

Texas  

TO^ 

?\ 

2 

i 

Vermont  

IO 

14 

Rhode  Island  

8 

Missouri  

2 

7 

2 

IQ 

Wisconsin  

10 

i 

Delaware  •  

6 

Tennessee  

24 

Mississippi.  .                             

16 

T      .  .   rr 
Louisiana 

9 

c 

2 

Oregon  

6 

j 

...... 

Ohio  

4.4. 

Pennsylvania  

r8 

" 

Minnesota  

IO 

Maryland  

ii 

7 

2 

Florida  

8 

North  Carolina  

9 

4 

t 

2 

Kentucky  

24 

Nevada  

3 

7 

Nebraska  .  .  . 

6 

Michigan  

14 

8 

Totals  

403  \ 

133* 

77 

.8 

31 

56 

19 

Wholevote  .....................  713  Hancock  ...............   75 

Necessary  for  a  choice  .......  476 

Tilden  ...........................  403^ 

Hendricks  .....................    133^ 

Broadhead  ..... 


Allen  ...................  56 

Bayard.!.".*....'......'...  27 

Parker  ..........  .  ........    18 


2  A  A  OF  THOMAS  A.  HEND RICKS. 

The  issue  of  administrative  reform  and  the  con 
sideration  given  to  the  larger  importance  of  New 
York's  thirty-five  electoral  votes,  determined  the 
struggle  after  one  ballot  in  favor  of  Mr.  Tilden. 
The  first  ballot  was  reported  as  given,  and  after, 
the  announcement  of  it  the  States  soon  tumbled 
in  to  make  his  vote  the  necessary  two-thirds. 

After  the  Presidential  nomination  the  Conven 
tion  took  a  recess  until  next  morning,  and  during 
the  interval  every  thought  of  any  other  nominee 
for  Vice-President  than  Mr.  Hendricks  was  aban 
doned.  Upon  reassembling,  the  delegates  nomi 
nated  him  with  great  enthusiasm  by  acclamation 
on  the  first  ballot,  though  no  assurance  was  had 
from  him  or  from  the  delegates  who  had  presented 
him  for  the  first  place  that  he  would  accept  the 
second.  Importunities  quickly  poured  in  upon 
him  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  and,  yielding  to 
the  universal  demand  from  the  party  which  had 
honored  him,  and  which  he  was  always  ready  to 
serve,  he  accepted  the  nomination  and  bore  his 
part  bravely  in  the  memorable  campaign  of 
1876. 

In  his  letter  of  acceptance  of  that  year  he  re 
peated  his  financial  views  as  they  had  been  previ 
ously  expressed;  and,  while  he  avowed  distrust 
of  artificial  devices  to  secure  resumption  as  hin 
drances  rather  than  helps,  he  reiterated  the  doc 
trine  that  "Gold  and  silver  are  the  real  standards  of 
value,  and  our  national  currency  will  not  be  a 


ELECTED   VICE-PRESIDENT  AND  COUNTED  OUT.     245 

perfect  medium  of  exchange  until  it  shall  be  con 
vertible  at  the  pleasure  of  the  holder." 

Upon  other  subjects  of  more  timely  and  abiding 
interest,  Mr.  Hendricks  declared  with  great  vigor 
his  sympathy  with  the  declarations  of  the  platform 
and  the  official  acts  and  utterences  of  Mr.  Tilden. 
For  example,  he  said : 

"The  institutions  of  our  country  have  been 
sorely  tried  by  the  exigencies  of  civil  war,  and 
since  the  peace  by  a  selfish  and  corrupt  manage 
ment  of  public  affairs  which  have  shamed  us  before 
civilized  mankind.  By  unwise  and  partial  legisla 
tion,  every  industry  and  interest  of  the  people 
have  been  made  to  suffer;  and  in  the  executive 
departments  of  the  Government  dishonesty,  rapa 
city,  and  venality  have  debauched  the  public  ser 
vice.  Men  known  to  be  unworthy  have  been 
promoted,  while  others  have  been  degraded  for 
fidelity  to  official  duty.  Public  office  has  been 
made  the  means  of  private  profit,  and  the  country 
has  been  offended  to  see  a  class  of  men  who  boast 
the  friendship  of  the  sworn  protectors  of  the  State 
amassing  fortunes  by  defrauding  the  public  Treas 
ury  and  by  corrupting  the  servants  of  the  people. 
In  such  a  crisis  of  the  history  of  the  country,  I  re 
joice  that  the  Convention  at  St.  Louis  has  so  nobly 
raised  the  standard  of  reform.  Nothing  can  be 
well  with  us  or  with  our  affairs  until  the  public 
conscience,  shocked  by  the  enormous  evils  and 
abuses  which  prevail,  shall  have  demanded  and 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  tiEND  RICKS. 

compelled  an  unsparing  reformation  of  our  na^ 
tional  Administration,  'in  its  head  and  in  its  mem 
bers.'  In  such  a  reformation,  the  removal  of  a 
single  officer,  even  the  President,  is  comparatively 
a  trifling  matter  if  the  system  which  he  repre 
sents,  and  which  has  fostered  him  as  he  has  fos 
tered  it,  is  suffered  to  remain.  The  President 
alone  must  not  be  made  the  scape-goat  for  the 
enormities  of  the  system  which  infects  the  public 
service  and  threatens  the  destruction  of  our  insti 
tutions.  In  some  respects  I  hold  that  the  present 
Executive  has  been  the  victim  rather  than  the 
author  of  that  vicious  system.  Congressional  and 
party  leaders  have  been  stronger  than  the  Presi 
dent.  No  one  man  could  have  created  it,  and 
the  removal  of  no  one  man  could  amend  it.  It  is 
thoroughly  corrupt,  and  must  be  swept  remorse 
lessly  away  by  the  selection  of  a  Government  com 
posed  of  elements  entirely  new  and  pledged  to 
radical  reform. 

"  With  the  industries  of  the  people  there  have 
been  frequent  interferences.  Our  platform  truly 
says  that  many  industries  have  been  impoverished 
to  subsidize  a  few.  Our  commerce  has  been  de 
graded  to  an  inferior  position  on  the  high  seas ; 
manufactures  have  been  diminished ;  agriculture 
has  been  embarrassed ;  and  the  distress  of  the 
industrial  classes  demands  that  these  things  shall 
be  reformed. 

"The  burdens  of  the  people  must  also  be  light- 


ELECTED   VICE-PRESIDENT  AND  COUNTED  OUT.     247 

ened  by  a  great  change  in  our  system  of  public 
expenses.  The  profligate  expenditure  which  in 
creased  taxation  from  five  dollars  per  capita  in 
1860  to  eighteen  dollars  in  1870  tells  its  own  story 
of  our  need  of  fiscal  reform. 

"Our  treaties  with  foreign  powers  should  also  be 
revised  and  amended,  in  so  far  as  they  leave  citi 
zens  of  foreign  birth  in  any  particular  less  secure 
in  any  country  on  earth  than  they  would  be  if  they 
had  been  born  upon  our  own  soil ;  and  the  iniqui 
tous  coolie  system,  which,  through  the  agency  of 
wealthy  companies,  imports  Chinese  bondmen,  and 
establishes  a  species  of  slavery,  and  interferes 
with  the  just  rewards  of  labor  on  our  Pacific 
coast,  should  be  utterly  abolished. 

"In  the  reform  of  our  civil  service  I  most  heartily 
indorse  that  section  of  the  platform  which  declares 
that  the  civil  service  ought  not  to  be  '  subject  to 
change  at  every  election,'  and  that  it  ought  not 
to  be  made  '  the  brief  reward  of  party  zeal/  but 
ought  to  be  awarded  for  proved  competency  and 
held  for  fidelity  in  the  public  employ.  I  hope 
never  again  to  see  the  cruel  and  remorseless  pro 
scription  for  political  opinions  which  has  disgraced 
the  Administration  of  the  last  eight  years.  Bad 
as  the  civil  service  now  is,  as  all  know,  it  has  some 
men  of  tried  integrity  and  proved  ability.  Such 
men,  and  such  men  only,  should  be  retained  in 
office ;  but  no  man  should  be  retained,  on  any 
consideration,  who  has  prostituted  his  office  to  the 


248       LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

purposes  of  partisan  intimidation  or  compulsion, 
or  who  has  furnished  money  to  corrupt  the  elec 
tions.  This  is  done,  and  has  been  done,  in  almost 
every  county  of  the  land.  It  is  a  blight  upon  the 
country,  and  ought  to  be  reformed. 

"Of  sectional  contentions  and  in  respect  to  our 
common  schools  I  have  only  to  say  this :  That,  in 
my  judgment,  the  man  or  party  that  would  involve 
our  schools  in  political  or  sectarian  controversy  is 
an  enemy  to  the  schools.  The  common  schools 
are  safer  under  the  protecting  care  of  all  the  people 
than  under  the  control  of  any  party  or  sect.  They 
must  be  neither  sectarian  nor  partisan,  and  there 
must  be  neither  division  nor  misappropriation  of  the 
funds  for  their  support.  Likewise  I  regard  the  man 
who  would  arouse  or  foster  sectional  animosities 
and  antagonisms  among  his  countrymen  as  a 
dangerous  enemy  to  his  country.  All  the  people 
must  be  made  to  feel  and  know  that  once  more 
there  is  established  a  purpose  and  policy  under 
which  all  citizens  of  every  condition,  race,  and 
color  will  be  secure  in  the  enjoyment  of  whatever 
rights  the  Constitution  and  laws  declare  or  recog 
nize  ;  and  that  in  controversies  that  may  arise  the 
Government  is  not  a  partisan,  but  within  its  con 
stitutional  authority  the  just  and  powerful  guard 
ian  of  the  rights  and  safety  of  all.  The  strife  be 
tween  the  sections  and  between  races  will  cease 
as  soon  as  the  power  for  evil  is  taken  away  from 
a  party  that  makes  political  gain  out  of  scenes  of 


ELECTED  VICE-PRESIDENT  AND  COUNTED  OUT.     249 

violence  and  bloodshed,  and  the  constitutional 
authority  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  men  whose 
political  welfare  requires  that  peace  and  good 
order  shall  be  preserved  everywhere." 

Upon  the  issues  thus  formulated,  Mr.  Tilden 
and  Mr.  Hendricks  were  elected,  after  a  campaign 
in  which  the  candidate  for  Vice-President  took  an 
effective  part.  Of  the  popular  vote  the  electors 
supported  by  the  Democratic  party  received 
4,284,885,  to  4,033,950  for  those  who  represented 
Hayes  and  Wheeler,  81,740  for  Peter  Cooper, 
9,525  for  Green  Clay  Smith,  and  2,636  scattering. 
The  States  divided  as  follows : 

Tilden  and  Hendricks  had  the  votes  of  the 
States  of  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Alabama,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Indiana, 
Missouri,  Arkansas,  Mississippi,  Texas,  Florida, 
South  Carolina,  Louisiana,  and  West  Virginia ; 
total,  203. 

Hayes  and  Wheeler  had  the  votes  of  the  States 
of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  Massachu 
setts,  Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Illinois, 
Michigan,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  California,  Minnesota, 
Oregon,  Kansas,  Nevada,  Nebraska,  and  Col 
orado ;  total,  1 66. 

But  the  electoral  votes  of  Florida,  Louisiana, 
South  Carolina,  and  Oregon  were  disputed.  Mr. 
Hendricks  favored  insistence  upon  the  lawful 
election  of  the  Democratic  candidates  and  a  refer- 


250 


LIFE    OF  THOMAS  A,  HENDRICKS. 


ence  of  any  legal  questions  that  might  arise  to  the 
constitutional  tribunals  appointed  to  decide  them. 
Mr.  Tilden,  it  is  held,  was  also  for  standing  on 
the  law  and  precedents,  which  would  have  seated 
him  and  his  colleague.  But  the  Democrats  in 
Congress,  to  escape  what  seemed  to  them  to  be 
the  danger  of  civil  war,  assented  to  the  creation 
of  an  extra  constitutional  Electoral  Commission, 
made  up  of  members  of  the  House,  Senate,  and 
Supreme  Court  Judges,  consisting  of  fifteen  in  all, 
of  whom 

Eight  were  Republicans, 

Seven  were  Democrats. 

The  Republicans  voted  almost  invariably  for 
any  proposition  that  would  confirm  the  title  of 
Hayes  and  Wheeler,  and  by  excluding  evidence 
when  it  was  hurtful  and  admitting  the  same  kind 
of  evidence  when  it  helped  their  case,  by  going 
behind  the  returns  in  one  instance  and  refusing 
to  go  behind  them  in  another,  by  confirming  fraud 
and  ratifying  forgery,  they  justified  a  report  which 
gave  all  the  disputed  votes  to  Hayes  and  Wheeler, 
and  seated  them  by  one  electoral  vote.  After  an 
exciting  struggle  -in  Congress  the  report  was 
adopted  and  fraud  was  made  triumphant. 

Two  Republicans  in  the  House — Henry  L. 
Pierce  and  Julius  H.  Seelye — raised  their  voices  in 
protest  against  the  fraud,  and  they  continue  to 
have  the  respect  of  honest  men.  Senator  Roscoe 
Conkling  absented  himself  from  the  proceedings  of 


ELECTED  VICE-PRESIDENT  AND   COUNTED  OUT.     251 

Congress  while  the  ravishment  of  Louisiana  was 
being  perpetrated  by  his  party. 

Hayes  and  Wheeler  lived  through  their  term,  and 
at  the  expiration  of  it  retired  to  their  respective 
homes.  Before  the  Electoral  Commission  Judge 
Black  had  concluded  his  argument  with  the  pro 
phecy  that  the  slowly  turning  mills  of  the  gods, 
which  are  poetically  supposed  to  grind  out  retribu 
tion,  would  some  of  these  days  have  the  water 
turned  on  them.  The  time  for  fulfillment  seems 
to  be  at  hand.  The  beneficiaries  of  the  fraud  re 
turned  to  Ohio  and  New  York  and  have  since 
lived  in  great  obscurity,  objects  of  general  con 
tempt.  Neither  has  ever  been  mentioned  for 
other  political  office  or  dignity,  and  Hayes'  name 
is  received  in  conventions,  even  of  his  own  party, 
with  hissing,  or  popularly  recalled  only  by  the 
prominence  of  his  wife  in  temperance  and  relig 
ious  associations. 

Mr.  Garfield,  who  visited  Louisiana  in  behalf  of 
his  party  in  1876  and  sat  as  one  of  the  Commission 
to  judge  the  Louisiana  case  in  1877,  was  nomi 
nated  by  the  Republicans  for  President  in  1880 
and  was  inaugurated,  but  he  was  assassinated  by 
a  fanatic  named  Guiteau,  who  claimed  to  be  a  stal 
wart  of  Stalwart  Republicans.  A  most  despicable 
character  by  nature,  Guiteau  was  inflamed  to  the 
frenzy  of  his  foul  crime  by  the  excitement  which 
prevailed  in  his  party  over  the  appointment  of  a 
Collector  to  the  Port  of  New  York.  At  the  sup- 


2r2       LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

posed  instigation  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr. 
Elaine — certainly  with  a  view  of  rewarding  one  of 
Elaine's  friends — the  President  had  removed  the 
efficient  officer  who  held  this  post,  without  good 
cause  and  against  the  wishes  of  the  New  York 
Senators.  This  disagreement  threatened  to 
divide  the  party,  and  at  the  period  of  President 
Garfield's  death  the  breach  was  imminent.  The 
political  suavity  of  his  successor  has  healed  it  for 
a  time. 

Senator  Edmunds,  of  the  Electoral  Commission, 
and  Senator  Sherman,  of  the  "  visiting  statesmen  " 
of  that  year,  have  both  been  urged  as  candidates 
for  the  Presidency;  and  ill-luck  has  even  attended 
the  candidacy  of  four  of  the  Democratic  members 
of  the  Commission,  though  they  all  stood  up  man 
fully  for  the  right  and  the  law.    While  the  mildew 
of  retribution  has  thus  blighted  the  political  pros 
pects  of  those  who  were  responsible  for  the  great 
fraud  and  those  who  were  its  beneficiaries,  the 
most  conspicuous  sufferers  by  it — Samuel  J.  Til- 
den   and  Thomas  A.   Hendricks — have   steadily 
grown  in  the  respect  of  the  public  and  the  favor 
of  their  party.     Had  his  physical  condition  per 
mitted,  a  mere  nod  of  assent  from   Mr.  Tilden 
would  have  commanded  for  him  unanimous  re- 
nomination  in  1884,  and  with  one  voice  the  Con 
vention  laid  at   the   feet  of  Mr.    Hendricks   its 
nomination  to  the  place  from  which  he  was  ex 
cluded  by  fraud  in  1877. 


CHAPTER  XL 

MR.  HENDRICKS    AT    HOME. 

IT  has  been  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  since 
Mr.  Hendricks  first  made  his  office  and  resi 
dence  in  Indianapolis.     With  his  inborn  love 
of  rural  life  and  associations,  strengthened  by  his 
experience  of  maturer   years,  he   for  a  time  had 
his  home  on  a  little  farm  four  miles  from  the  city, 
whence  he   removed  within   the   municipal  limits 
after  his  election  as  Governor,  to  meet  the  require 
ments  of  the  law  which  prescribes  that  the  Execu 
tive  of  Indiana  shall  live  in  the  capital  city  of  the 
State.     He  has  always  lived  in  democratic  sim 
plicity,  like   a   gentleman    with   refined   but   not 
luxurious  or  extravagant  tastes.     With  genuine 
hospitality    he  entertained   his    personal    friends 
and  public  acquaintances  during  his  Gubernatorial 
term,  and  his  frequent  popular  receptions  to  the 
Legislature  were  occasions   of  great  pleasure  to 
the  members  and  his  fellow-citizens.     After  his 
retirement  from  office  and  during  the  visit  of  him 
self  and  wife  to  Europe,  their  residence  was  closed, 
and  in  the  interval  between  that  time  and  the  re 
sumption  of  their  housekeeping  they  boarded  at 
the   Bates   House,  where    their   pleasant    rooms 
were  accessible  to  friends,  and  visitors  were  always 
welcomed  with  genial  hospitality. 

253 


254 


LIFE    OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 


About  four  years  ago  Mr.  Hendricks  and  his 
wife — constituting  their  whole  family — removed  to 
and  since  then  have  lived  in  one  of  the  two  houses 
owned  by  him  in  the  central  part  of  the  city  of 
Indianapolis,  on  North  Tennessee  Street,  near  the 
corner  of  Ohio,  across  the  street  from  the  new 
Capitol  of  the  State  in  course  of  erection.  His 
residence  is  a  modest  two-story  flat-roofed  brick 
building,  painted  a  drab  color  and  standing  a  con 
siderable  distance  in  from  the  street.  A  spacious 
grassy  lawn  stretches  in  the  front  and  to  the  side 
of  it,  with  an  ailanthus  tree  and  several  young 
maples  scattered  about  the  grounds.  Straggling 
hollyhocks  and  other  old-fashioned  garden  flowers 
usually  found  about  country  houses  are  seen  along 
the  side  fence,  and  an  appearance  of  half  neg 
lect,  without  any  untidiness,  gives  the  entire  place 
a  cheerful,  easy  look  that  makes  the  humblest  caller 
feel  at  home  and  the  most  stately  and  fastidious 
will  have  no  right  feeling  of  taste  or  order  offended. 
No  "broad  sheets  of  plate  glass"  attract  the  won 
derment  of  the  visitor  here,  nor  is  there  "  ample 
porte  cochere"  neither  "baronial  hall"  nor  "massive 
stairways  decorated  with  carvings "  betokening 
grandeur  of  fortune  or  desire  of  display.  It  is  the 
modest,  fitting  home  of  an  American  gentleman, 
with  a  broad  and  hospitable  hall,  tastefully  but 
simply  furnished  double  parlors,  well-filled  book 
cases  being  a  feature  of  the  rear  room.  Mr.  Hen 
dricks'  own  library  and  office  are  in  a  chamber 


MR.  H END  RICKS  A  T  HOME.  255 

on  the  second  floor,  and  here,  within  easy  reach, 
are  his  law  books,  political  manuals,  reports,  and 
all  the  tools  of  his  varied  work. 

The  Democratic  candidate  for  Vice-President, 
ex-Senator,  ex-Governor,  and  leader  of  his  party 
in  Indiana,  is  a  well-preserved  man  of  about  five 
feet  nine  inches  in  stature,  well  proportioned  and 
stoutly  built,  though  not  corpulent,  with  small  and 
shapely  hands  and  feet ;  his  once  light  hair,  now 
thin,  is  well  mingled  with  the  silver  of  age,  but  not 
of  enfeeblement ;  his  gray  eyes  have  lost  no  lustre 
and  in  their  use  he  shows  no  signs  of  failing  sight; 
his  nose  is  a  prominent  feature  of  his  face ;  his 
mouth  and  chin,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  contour  of 
his  face,  are  expressive  of  firm,  strong  character, 
with  a  gentleness  of  disposition  and  tender  touch  ; 
he  wears  the  least  of  side  whiskers,  which  are  light 
gray,  and  his  complexion  is  fair.  In  conversation 
he  is  easy,  courteous,  cautious,  and  deferential.  In 
his  face,  and  form,  in  the  freedom  of  his  counte 
nance  from  the  wrinkles  of  age  or  care,  in  the 
firmness  of  his  figure  and  the  elasticity  of  his  step, 
he  shows  the  results  of  a  temperate,  upright 
life  and  the  unmistakable  evidences  of  a  sound 
mind  in  a  sound  body,  both  preserved  by  pru 
dent  modes  of  living  and  constant  self-control. 

Mr.  Hendricks  was  married  in  1845  to  Miss 
Eliza  C.  Morgan,  of  the  well-known  Virginia  fam 
ily  transplanted  to  Ohio,  near  the  metropolis  of 
which  State  her  mother  still  resides.  His  bride 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

was  a  beautiful  and  brilliant  girl,  who  laid  her 
hand  in  his  and  joined  her  fortunes  with  those  of 
young  Hendricks  when  his  career  was  all  before 
him,  and  she  has  been  his  faithful  friend  and  coun 
selor  in  all  their  happy  years  of  conjugal  union. 
A  not  unfriendly  but  no  more  than  fair  newspaper 
writer  has  recently  printed  this  personal  note  of 
Mrs.  Hendricks :  "  She  is  a  fine-looking  lady, 
about  fifty  years  old,  rather  small  of  stature,  with 
dark  hair  and  eyes.  She  wears  eye-glasses, 
which  give  her  something  of  a  distingue  appear 
ance,  and  she  dresses  richly  but  plainly.  She  is 
a  brilliant  conversationalist  and  a  lady  of  rare 
tact.  For  many  years  she  has  devoted  much  at 
tention  to  charitable  matters,  and  for  four  years 
was  one  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  appointed  by 
the  Republican  Governor,  of  the  State  Institution 
for  the  Reformation  of  Girls.  While  president  of 
the  Board  a  legislative  investigation  of  the  institu 
tion  was  held,  and  developed  the  fact  that  the 
affairs  had  been  managed  much  more  economi 
cally  and  effectively  than  when  under  control  of 
men.  When  Mr.  Hendricks  was  Governor  of  the 
State  she  visited  with  him  the  various  penal  and 
reformatory  institutions,  and  was  not  satisfied 
with  a  casual  inspection  of  them,  but  inquired 
into  their  affairs  closely.  She  is  valuable  to  him 
in  various  other  ways,  for  she  has  an  extended 
knowledge  of  political  affairs  and  excellent  judg 
ment  regarding  them.  All  of  his  carefully  pre- 


MR.  HE ND RICKS  A  T  HOME. 


257 


pared  speeches  bear  the  impress  of  her  work. 
They  are  a  charming  couple,  thoroughly  congenial 
and  almost  equally  talented." 

At  home  and  in  his  travels  she  is  his  constant 
friend ;  every  detail  of  his  life  commands  her 
closest  attention  and  most  faithful  care,  and  she 
enters  largely  into  all  plans  of  his  political  future. 
But  she  springs  from  a  family  averse  to  politics. 
Her  father,  elected  to  the  Ohio  Legislature,  re 
signed  and  quit  the  place  in  three  days  because 
of  his  distaste  for  political  service  ;  and  she  never 
hesitates  to  say  that  she  married  Mr.  Hendricks 
"as  a  lawyer,"  and  takes  her  highest  pride  in  his 
achievements  at  the  bar.  True  wife  and  woman, 
she  has  the  loyal  ambition  of  her  sex  to  have  him 
succeed  in  all  undertakings  and  ardent  hopes  for 
his  election  when  nominated  ;  but  of  more  supreme 
interest  and  attraction  to  her  than  political  intrigue 
or  affairs  of  State  is  her  care  for  his  personal  ease 
and  domestic  comfort.  She  appreciates  that  to 
his  public  and  professional  success  no  ministry 
can  be  more  useful-  than  that  which  wards  off  dys 
pepsia  ;  to  the  public  man,  no  service  so  helpful 
as  that  which  affords  sleep,  "balmy,  light,  from 
pure  digestion  bred." 

The  first  and  only  offspring  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hendricks  was  a  son,  who  was  born  while  they 
dwelt  in  their  plain  frame  dwelling  at  Shelbyville, 
and  there  at  the  age  of  three  he  died.  His  grave 
is  marked  by  a  graceful  marble  shaft  inscribed, 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

"Our  Little  Morgan."  Portraits  which  hang  in 
almost  every  room  of  their  house  show  a  sweet 
baby  face  with  laughing  brown  eyes,  dark  curls 
shadowing  the  brow,  and  firm,  calm  lips,  resembling 
those  of  the  father.  His  blessed  and  perennial 
memory  has  strengthened  their  bond  of  union  and 
has  been  a  sunbeam  in  their  home  wherever  they 
have  made  it. 

During  his  Senatorial  term,  Mr.  Hendricks  and 
his  wife  never  kept  house  in  Washington,  and  by 
no  appearance  of  residence  there  did  he  ever 
separate  himself  from  or  become  a  stranger  to 
his  constituents.  With  remarkable  devotion  to 
the  people  among  whom  he  grew  to  manhood,  and 
with  unfailing  attachment  to  them  personally  and 
to  their  interests,  he  has  made  it  an  almost  inva 
riable  rule  to  visit  and  speak  in  Shelbyville,  his 
old  home,  during  every  general  campaign.  He 
is  authority  in  that  community,  and  the  sympathy 
he  has  always  had  from  its  citizens  is  one  of  the 
best  tests  of  a  successful  public  life.  During  the 
campaign  of  1876,  the  local  pride  in  his  career 
and  position  manifested  itself  in  the  erection  of  a 
campaign  pole  in  Shelbyville,  the  largest  ever  put 
up  in  this  country,  its  erection  occupying  several 
weeks'  time  and  involving  an  expense  of  over  one 
thousand  dollars.  After  the  judgment  of  the 
Electoral  Commission  it  was  cut  down  and  made 
into  walking-sticks,  which  had  a  large  sale  among 
his  admirers. 


AfK.  llENDRiCKS  A  T  HOME. 


259 


Soon  following  the  electoral  dispute  of  1877, 
Mr.  Hendricks  and  his  wife  took  a  journey  to  Eu 
rope,  visiting  Ireland,  Scotland,  England,  France, 
Germany,  and  Austria.  His  letters  reflecting  his 
observations  upon  these  countries,  their  people  and 
institutions,  were  full  of  interest  and  replete  with 
practical  wisdom.  During  the  winter  of  1883-84, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hendricks  again  visited  Europe, 
their  time  being  spent  in  England,  France,  and 
Rome,  and  covering  a  trip  to  Algiers.  After  their 
arrival  in  New  York  homeward,  they  paid  a  visit 
to  Mr.  Tilden  before  returning  to  Indiana,  and 
when  they  reached  their  home  in  Indianapolis, 
April  1 6th,  1884,  there  was  a  great  popular  ova 
tion  to  them,  marked  by  a  serenade  from  fifteen 
hundred  of  their  fellow-citizens  and  speeches  by 
leading  men  of  the  city. 

Mr.  Hendricks  was  born  and  baptized  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  of  which  his  father  was  an 
elder,  and  although  always  a  strict  moralist  and 
generous  supporter  of  agencies  for  the  preaching 
and  spread  of  religion,  he  connected  himself  for 
mally  with  the  Church  for  the  first  time  about 
twenty  years  ago,  when  he  joined  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  denomination,  and  has  been  for  many 
years  a  warden  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  Church  in 
Indianapolis,  being  the  senior  in  that  office  now. 
Rev.  Dr.  J.  S.  Jenckes,  Dean  and  Rector  of  St. 
Paul's,  speaks  in  the  highest  terms  of  his  charac 
ter  as  a  man  and  a  churchman.  His  presence  as 


26O  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

a  lay  delegate  in  the  General  Convocation  of  the 
Church  in  Philadelphia  in  1883  was  notable, 
when  Senator  Edmunds  declared  himself  "a  can 
didate  for  no  Presidency,"  and  ex-Secretary  of 
State  Hamilton  Fish  was  another  distinguished 
one  of  the  laymen  in  that  body. 

HIS  FAITH. 

The  simple,  earnest  Christian  faith  of  the  man, 
which  knows  no  doubt  and  has  not  been  shaken  by 
the  assaults  of  modern  Agnosticism,  is  set  forth  in 
the  report  by  an  Indianapolis  newspaper  of  an 
address  by  ex-Governor  Hendricks  before  the 
Young  Men's  Church  Guild  in  that  city,  in  course 
of  which  he  said  : 

"  I  care  not  which  one  of  the  highways  you  pur 
sue  toward  knowledge,  you  will  come  to  a  place 
in  the  course  of  your  travel  where  you  will  stop 
—where  you  can  go  no  further — as  upon  the  road 
it  shall  be  a  mountain  or  an  impassable  gulf,  and 
beyond  that  what  is  the  distant  land  then  becomes 
a  question  exclusively  of  faith.  This  side  of  that 
boundary  line  it  is  not  allowed  to  us  to  adopt 
faith ;  but  I  take  it  that  the  providence  which 
intended  that  human  intellect  should  always  be 
stimulated  to  inquiry  intended  that  we  should 
rely  upon  our  efforts  and  investigation  within  the 
realm  of  proper  inquiry.  But  we  reach  a  line  and 
boundary  beyond  which  inquiry  cannot  go,  some 
times,  very  early  in  our  progress.  I  know  scarcely 


MR.  HE ND  RICKS  A  T  HOME.  2  6 1 

any  question  that  does  not  have  this  limit  and 
restriction.  Take  your  own  person,  and  you  know 
of  its  existence,  you  know  of  its  faculties  and 
powers  ;  but  really  you  know  but  little  of  your 
self.  Have  you  any  idea  how  it  is  that  your  will 
does  govern  your  body  ?  You  know  the  fact  that 
by  the  will  the  mind  itself  does  work,  but  how  it  is 
and  what  it  is  you  know  not.  You  know  that 
some  faculty  is  connected  with  your  body  that 
controls  its  action ;  but  just  what  that  faculty  is 
you  know  as  much  as  Adam  and  Eve  when  they 
stepped  out  of  the  garden.  They  knew  just  as 
much  as  you  do.  No  philosopher  has  gone  fur 
ther.  How  it  is  that  spirit  dwells  with  matter, 
and  how  it  influences  the  action  of  matter,  no  man 
knows  nor  will  ever  know.  So  I  might  go  on  to 
give  several  illustrations,  but  I  will  not  undertake 
it.  For  myself,  when  I  come  to  that  boundary 
where  faith  begins,  I  choose  for  my  faith  that 
which  is  the  most  beautiful,  the  most  charming, 
and  that  which  will  promote  man's  happiness  to 
the  greatest  extent  and  add  to  the  glory  and 
honor  of  the  Great  Author  of  all  things." 

TRIBUTE    TO    CHRISTIANITY. 

No  less  sincere  and  eloquent  was  his  tribute 

to  Christianity  in  his  oration  at  the  laying  of  the 

corner-stone  of  the  new  Capitol  building  of  the 

State,  in  Indianapolis,  in   1880,  when    in  tracing 

the  elements  of  a  State's  greatness  he  thus  ex- 


252  LIFE  OJf  THOMAS  A. 

pressed  the  obligations  of  society  to  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ: 

"We  can  judge  of  the  future  by  the  causes 
only  that  have  operated  in  the  past  and  that  are 
operating  now.  While  the  religion  of  a  people 
should  be,  and  in  this  country  is,  kept  separate 
and  distinct  from  its  civil  government,  still  the  re 
ligion  of  a  people  insensibly  moulds  the  national 
institutions.  It  tempers  their  character,  and  to 
this  temper  their  laws  must  conform.  It  is  the 
atmosphere  that  surrounds  and  pervades  the  very 
structure  of  government.  In  conjecturing  as  to 
the  future  of  a  people,  its  religion  should  be  re 
garded.  The  social  and  political  institutions  that 
have  taken  their  form  and  spirit  under  the  influ 
ences  of  the  prevailing  religion  will  be  beneficent 
in  their  influences  and  of  longer  probable  duration 
in  proportion  as  it  is  true  and  enduring. 

"Christianity  has  breathed  its  spirit  upon  the 
institutions  that  surround  us.  Some  of  its  solem 
nities  have  attended  the  laying  of  this  corner 
stone.  If  the  frightful  thought  could  enter  our 
minds  that  Christianity  is  all  a  delusion  that  must 
fade  away  before  the  advancing  light  of  science, 
still  a  comforting  assurance  would  remain  that 
its  gentle  and  humanizing  and  elevating  influences 
have  already  so  potently  acted  upon  the  minds  of 
men  that  no  pernicious  or  degrading  superstition 
could  ever  take  its  place  in  any  land  that  it  has 
enlightened.  If  ;t  were  possible  that  scepticism, 


MR.  HE ND RICKS  AT  HOME.  263 

born  of  science,  could  destroy  our  belief  in  the 
divinity  of  Christ,  and  overthrow  all  that  part  of 
our  religion  that  teaches  our  duties  to  heaven,  it 
cannot  be  conceived  as  possible  that  any  form  of 
faith  could  ever  be  substituted  that  would  better 
teach  man  his  duties  in  his  relation  to  earth,  or 
that  would  be  incompatible  with  our  political  in 
stitutions." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

A   POPULAR    PUBLIC    SPEAKER. 

SINCE  the  day  he  met  Nathan  Earlywine  on 
Flat  Rock,  Mr.  Hendricks  has  maintained 
his  reputation  and  popularity  as  a  public 
speaker.  He  is  not  violent  nor  declamatory  in  his 
expression,  nor  is  he  specially  gifted  with  strength 
of  voice  and  grace  of  manner ;  he  has  not  the 
happy  anecdotal  style  of  the  popular  stump 
speaker,  nor  is  he  distinguished  for  ready  wit, 
quick  repartee,  .and  severity  of  invective.  He 
neither  tears  a  passion  in  tatters  nor  splits  the 
ears  of  the  groundlings;  he  does  not  drape  his 
thoughts  in  splendor  of  rhetorical  imagery,  and 
he  suffers  somewhat  from  a  lack  of  imagination  and 
inability  to  readily  quote  from  his  extensive  read 
ing  of  the  English  classics  and  parliamentary 
debates,  with  which,  for  other  purposes,  he  is 
familiar.  But  he  has  a  candid,  vigorous,  persua 
sive  style  that  attracts  and  holds  the  attention  of 
the  average  auditor  and  entertains  without  tiring, 
while  it  convinces  and  instructs  an  audience  and 
challenges  the  respect  of  even  the  unwilling 
listener.  His  language  is  always  well  chosen, 
and  usually  dignified  and  temperate ;  if  he  is 
caustic  and  merciless  to  opponents,  his  severity  is 
264 


A  POPULAR  PUBLIC  SPEAKER.  265 

generally  the  stern  logic  of  irrefutable  facts  and 
unanswerable  statistics.  He  speaks  extempora 
neously  with  fluency,  but  very  often  prepares  his 
addresses  with  great  care  and  delivers  them  from 
manuscript ;  and  several  instances  of  the  accuracy 
with  which  he  makes  even  startling  statements 
have  warned  those  who  grapple  in  controversy 
with  him  that  he  is  not  one  to  lightly  make  accusa 
tions  without  a  just  appreciation  of  their  gravity. 
Of  his  popular  addresses  not  of  a  strictly 
political  character  one  of  the  most  elaborate  was 
his  eulogy  of  Washington  and  the  influence  of  his 
character  and  principles  upon  American  institu 
tions.  This  was  delivered  before  the  Democratic 
Association,  in  the  Academy  of  Music,  Philadel 
phia,  February  22d,  1869,  and  was  repeated  in 
other  places.  While  Governor,  he  very  often  made 
fitting  addresses  at  public  gatherings  of  a  social, 
literary,  educational,  commercial,  or  agricultural 
character,  and  his  public  utterances  were  invaria 
bly  in  good  taste,  and  displayed  rare  common 
sense.  He  made  an  address  at  the  meeting  of 
Governors  on  behalf  of  the  great  Centennial 
Exhibition,  in  Philadelphia,  October  2ist,  1875, 
which  was  a  glowing  approval  of  that  great  project 
and  a  thrilling  plea  for  a  restoration  of  good  feel 
ing  among  all  parts  of  the  Union.  His  address 
at  the  Southern  Industrial  Exposition,  New  Or 
leans,  February  26th,  1876,  while  ornate  and 
eloquent  in  all  its  parts,  was  a  rich  mine  of  care- 


266  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

fully  collated  information  and  wise  counsel  upori 
material  subjects.  On  April  I2th,  1882,  at  the 
annual  commencement  of  the  Central  Law  School 
of  Indiana,  he  delivered  an  address  on  "  The 
Advocate,"  concluding  with  a  fit  and  generous 
eulogy  of  Governors  Whitcomb  and  Morton,  the 
latter  his  foremost  political  antagonist.  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks'  lecture  on  "Revolution,"  delivered  in  a 
number  of  cities  during  late  years,  is  a  philo 
sophical  and  historical  production  of  much  literary 
merit. 

THE  CAPITOL  ORATION. 

At  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  new 
Capitol  of  Indiana,  September  28th,  1880,  the  ora 
tion  was  made  by  Mr.  Hendricks.  In  stirring 
passages  he  recalled  the  history  of  his  State  since 
its  entrance  into  the  Union,  and  how  the  enterprise 
of  its  people  had  conquered  the  elements  and 
subdued  its  soil.  But  of  higher  importance  than 
the  swelling  of  the  census  tables  with  the  annals 
of  its  material  increase  he  rated  its  intellectual 
and  moral  development.  "  The  dark  forests  have 
disappeared,"  he  said,  "  the  wet  lands  have  been 
drained ;  malarial  diseases  no  longer  prevail ; 
and  two  million  of  prosperous  and  happy  people 
occupy  the  rich  lands  of  Indiana.  But  population 
alone  cannot  confer  rank  and  dignity  upon  the 
State.  Who  cares  to  remember  Persia,  with  her 
many  provinces,  her  myriads  of  people,  and  her 


A  POPULAR  PUBLIC  SPEAKER. 


267 


vast  wealth  ?    But  in  all  the  course  of  time  the 
little  State  of  Attica  cannot  be  forgotten.     Greek 
thought  and  culture  and  devotion  of  liberty  are 
immortal.      Roman  law  and  learning  and  taste 
and  courage  have  enriched  the  blood  of  all  civil 
ized  nations.     Ancient  Gaul  is  known  to  us  be 
cause  Caesar  conquered  it  and  wrote  the  story  of 
his  conquest.     The  men  of  Indiana  not  only  love 
liberty,  but  they  have  a  thorough  appreciation  of 
the  advantages  of  good  government  and  an  intel 
ligent  understanding  of  what  is  necessary  on  their 
part  to  preserve  and  maintain  it.     They  recognize 
the  fact  that  wherever  a  State  is   controlled  di 
rectly  or  indirectly  by  the  people,  public  virtue 
and  popular  intelligence  are  indispensable.     They 
know   that  free  institutions  cannot  be  made  to 
rest  securely  upon  ignorance  and  vice."  .  *     *    * 
"  The  building  whose  corner-stone  we  lay  to-day 
will  be  no  kingly  palace  where  an  arbitrary  ruler 
shall  wield  powers  not  voluntarily  conferred  upon 
him  by  the  governed.  It  will  be  no  temple  dedicated 
to  some  false  worship.     It  will  be  an  edifice  where 
the  sovereignty  of  a  free  and  enlightened  people — 
a  sovereignty  invisible  indeed,  but  nevertheless 
as  realandaspotentas  any  that  Europeor  Asia  has 
ever  known,   shall  have  its  seat — a  house   from 
which  shall  go  forth  those  influences  that  preserve 
social  order  and  foster  public  prosperity— a  temple 
where  'sovereign  law,   the   State's   collected  will, 
sits  empress,  crowning  good,  repressing  ill,' — a 


258  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDK1CKS. 

political  temple  sacred  to  the  exercise  of  a  popu 
lar  self-government — a  form  of  government  that 
when  once  well  established  can  never  be  over 
thrown,  and  that  is  destined  in  some  future  age, 
in  God's  good  time,  to  supersede  every  form  of 
government  that  ambition,  aided  by  power  and 
superstition,  has  imposed  upon  the  peoples  of  the 
earth." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ON    THE    STUMP. 

DURING  every  political  campaign  Mr. 
Hendricks'  services  on  the  stump  are  in 
great  demand,  not  only  from  the  Democ 
racy  of  his  own  State,  but  of  every  part  of  the 
Union.  The  old  Macedonian  cry  from  his  Demo 
cratic  brethren  of  other  Commonwealths  has  never 
fallen  upon  a  deaf  ear  when  Thomas  A.  Hen 
dricks  was  asked  to  "  come  over  and  help."  His 
party  patriotism  knows  no  limitation  of  State 
lines ;  his  personal  comfort  or  individual  interests 
never  controlled  his  movements  in  a  campaign. 
When  asked  once  if  he  was  out  of  politics,  he 
answered  that  he  did  not  expect  to  be  while  he 
was  out  of  his  grave.  And  again  he  has  said  that 
the  Democratic  party  has  treated  him  with  such 
kindness  and  bestowed  so  many  favors  upon  him 
that  it  could  ask  no  sacrifice  of  him  that  he  would 
not  make.  He  has  presided  over  many  State 
Conventions  of  his  party,  notably  those  of  July 
1 5th,  1874,  February  2oth,  1878,  and  of  1880,  and 
on  these  or  other  occasions  he  has  been  wont  to 
"  strike  the  key-note  "  of  the  Indiana  campaigns. 
While  Governor  of  the  State,  witness  to  the  de 
moralization  which  ensued  from  the  concentration 

269 


270 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDR1CKS. 


of  all  the  Federal  forces  in  the  State  in  October, 
he  recommended  that  the  Constitution  should  be 
so  changed  that  the  general  State  election  take 
place  in  November  instead  of  October. 

Before  the  Convention  of  1874  he  made  a 
speech,  in  which  occurs  that  striking  passage  in 
arraignment  of  the  mismanagement  of  the  South 
by  the  Federal  Government  and  its  relation  to 
national  prosperity:  "  Cotton  and  tobacco  are  the 
most  important  staples  in  our  exports,  at  some 
times  exceeding  all  other  commodities.  Since  the 
close  of  the  war  it  has  been  the  suggestion  of  wis 
dom  to  encourage  their  production  in  the  largest 
possible  quantities,  as  it  had  been  the  dictate  of 
humanity,  Christianity,  and  patriotism  to  promote 
reconciliation  and  harmony  between  the  sections. 
But  political  and  partisan  interests  have  been 
made  paramount  to  humanity  and  the  welfare  of 
the  country.  Bad  governments  have  been  estab 
lished  and,  as  far  as  possible,  maintained  in  the 
South.  Intelligence  and  virtue  have  been  placed 
under  the  dominion  and  servitude  of  ignorance 
and  %vice.  Corruption  has  borne  sway ;  public 
indebtedness  has  become  frightful,  and  taxes  too 

o 

heavy  to  carry,  have  crushed  development  and 
manacled  enterprise.  In  a  word,  it  has  been  the 
government  of  hatred,  and  all  this  that  party 
might  bear  rule.  They  have  nourished  the  nox 
ious  plants  of  corruption — violence  and  fraud — in 
Louisiana  and  other  States  rather  than  the  cotton 


ON  THE   STUMP. 

plant  and  sugar-cane.  Agriculture  cannot  flourish 
under  bad  laws,  corrupt  administration,  and  cruel 
taxation." 

He  made  a  very  impressive  speech  on  "Town 
ship  Democracy"  at  the  Park  Theatre,  Indianap 
olis,  March  3Oth,  1881.  In  his  Fourth  of  July 
oration  at  Greencastle,  the  same  year,  he  ex 
pressed  profound  sympathy  for  Garfield,  stricken 
down  by  the  bullet  of  an  assassin.  In  the  State 
Convention  of  August  2d,  1883,  he  was  Chairman 
of  the  Resolutions  Committee.  At  the  Jackson 
banquet  given  by  the  Iroquois  Club,  of  Chicago, 
March  i5th,  1882,  he  replied  to  the  toast,  "Our 
Country,"  and  he  made  an  address  before  the 
third  semi-annual  Convention  of  Democratic  Edi 
tors  of  Indiana,  June  3Oth,  1882. 

TRUE    REFORM. 

In  his  speech  at  Zanesville,  Ohio,  September 
3d,  1875,  he  reviewed  in  a  most  masterly  way  the 
increasing  extravagance  and  corruption  in  the 
administration  of  public  affairs  and  laid  bare  to 
the  bone  the  occasion  for  deep-reaching  and 
genuine  civil-service  reform. 

A    FAVORITE    IN    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Mr.  Hendricks  took  part  in  the  Iowa  canvass 
of  1883  ;  but  in  no  State  is  he  more  of  a  favorite 
or  have  his  services  on  the  stump  been  more 
eagerly  sought  by  his  party  than  in  Pennsylvania, 


272  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

where  both  lines  of  his  immediate  ancestry  had 
their  roots.  He  spoke  with  great  favor  to  a 
Philadelphia  audience  October  22d,  1875,  in  the 
Gubernatorial  campaign,  at  the  invitation  of  the 
Americus  Club,  and  roused  his  hearers  to  enthu 
siasm  again  and  again  as  he  pleaded  for  the  resto 
ration  of  good  government  and  the  wiping  out  of 
all  sectional  lines  in  an  impassioned  speech,  of 
which  a  single  extract  will  convey  some  idea  of  the 
spirit: 

"Why,  gentlemen,  is  not  the  wheat  that  is 
grown  upon  the  rich  lands  of  Indiana  a  part  of 
the  wealth  of  Philadelphia  as  well  as  the  wheat 
that  grows  in  Chester  County  ?  [Cheers.]  Ah, 
gentlemen,  it  was  the  teaching  of  a  wise  states 
manship  to  promote  the  industries  of  the  South, 
and  it  was  the  dictate  of  Christianity  and  of  all 
religion  that  the  past  relations  of  the  two  sections 
should  be  speedily  restored.  Every  religious  or 
charitable  consideration  appealed  to  you  and  to 
me  and  to  all  of  us  whose  ears  were  more  open 
to  the  appeals  of  suffering  humanity  than  to  the 
narrow-minded  demands  of  party  to  close  up  the 
breach,  and  said  to  us:  'The  war  is  over,  the 
winds  of  heaven  have  blown  away  the  smoke  of 
the  battle  ;  we  are  one  people  ;  one  flag  once  more 
floats  over  us  all ;  one  Constitution  establishes 
the  framework  of  government  for  us  all,  and  one 
destiny  awaits  us  all.  Let  us,  in  heart  and  in 
hand,  in  sentiment,  in  affection,  and  fraternity,  be 


ON  THE  STUMP.  273 

/  o 

again  one  people.'  [Here  the  audience  re 
sponded  by  rising  tumultuously  and  waving  hats 
and  handkerchiefs,  while  making  the  hall  ring  with 
huzzas.] 

"I  repeat  that  stern  statesmanship  and  mild- 
eyed  religion  come  to  us  together  with  one  mes 
sage,  saying,  'Restore  the  old  relations  of  amity 
and  concord  between  all  parts  of  the  distracted 
country,  and  have  prosperity  in  every  portion 
thereof.'  [Applause.]  But  how  has  it  been  with 
us?  Virginia  several  years  ago  was  able  to  re 
cover  her  self-government ;  Georgia  soon  after 
resumed  control  of  her  own  affairs;  and  finally 
North  Carolina  came  in,  and  then  Texas,  and  at 
last  Arkansas;  and  just  as  soon  as  self-govern 
ment  was  restored  to  all  these  States,  it  seemed 
as  if  blessings  literally  rained  down  from  heaven 
upon  the  people.  They  once  more  built  up  their 
waste  places;  the  bramble  was  taken  from  their 
fields,  and  the  cotton-plant,  the  sugar-cane,  the 
tobacco-plant,  and  the  corn  placed  in  the  ground, 
and  prosperity  reappeared."  [Cheers.] 

The  speeches  of  Governor  Hendricks  at  Phil- 
lipsburg,  Centre  County,  and  in  Allegheny  City,  in 
the  Pennsylvania  Gubernatorial  canvass  of  1878, 
were  signally  effective;  the  wildest  enthusiasm 
ever  witnessed  at  a  public  meeting  in  that  town 
was  manifested  when  he  uttered  this  sentiment  in 
his  speech  in  Allegheny:  "Do  you  think  the  Dem 
ocratic  party  can  die  ?  Other  parties  can  die, 


274 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 


other  parties  may  die,  other  parties  do  die,  but 
the  Democratic  party  can  never  die.  Democracy, 
democratic  principles,  are  always  enthroned  in 
the  hearts  of  the  free  and  liberty-loving  people. 
Although  Jefferson  was  the  great  teacher  ot  our 
faith,  yet  democracy  did  not  have  its  birth  in  the 
United  States.  In  the  past  ages,  in  all  countries 
where  there  was  a  desire  for  better  government, 
where  man  wanted  better  laws  for  mankind,  and 
where  the  hearts  of  the  whole  people  longed  for 
equal  justice  before  the  law  for  all  the  people,  there 
was  democracy  born."  On  his  way  to  get  to  Alle 
gheny  some  railroad  detention  had  created  fears 
that  he  might  not  arrive  in  time  to  speak,  and  a 
special  train  was  rigged  up  and  sent  out  to  meet 
him.  To  get  him  to  the  hall  in  season  it  was  run 
fifty  miles  in  less  than  an  hour,  and  he  was  borne 
to  the  stage  on  the  shoulders  of  the  people,  but 
the  enthusiasm  over  his  speech  exceeded  even  the 
tumult  of  applause  which  his  arrival  had  excited. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

IN    CONTROVERSY. 

A  FREQUENT  misapprehension  of  Mr. 
/  \  Hendricks'  character  is  that  he  is  a 
*•  -^  negative  man.  This  impression  obtains 
because  in  the  too  frequent  dissensions  which 
have  disturbed  the  harmony  of  his  party  he 
has  often  refused  to  take  sides  radically,  and 
more  than  once  has  successfully  attempted  to 
allay  rather  than  widen  the  differences.  Mr. 
Hendricks  has  the  gift  of  seeing  what  too  many 
public  men  fail  to  see — that  there  is  generally  a 
measure  of  truth  on  either  side  of  great  popular 
controversies.  The  radicals  unquestionably  have 
some  uses  as  pioneers  and  axe-men  in  the  cause 
of  truth,  but  if  it  was  left  entirely  to  their  destruc 
tive  services  it  is  doubtful  if  its  substantial  victory 
would  ever  be  achieved.  Mr.  Hendricks  is  one 
"  that  holds  fast  the  golden  mean,"  and  comes  to 
his  opinions  rather  by  argument  and  conviction 
than  through  prejudice ;  he  discusses  more  than 
dogmatizes,  and  deems  it  no  proof  of  good  sea 
manship  to  escape  Scylla  by  being  engulfed  in 
Charybdis.  But  he  keeps  his  views  none  the  less 
tenaciously,  enforces  them  no  less  aggressively, 
and  defends  them  with  no  slighter  degree  of  skill 

275 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

and  persistency  because  of  these  habits  of 
thought.  The  best  test  of  his  quality  of  mind  is 
made  in  controversy.  Illustrations  have  been 
cited  from  his  earlier  professional  and  political 
experience  in  support  of  this.  Let  these  of  more 
recent  date  serve  to  confirm  it : 

Upon  the  invitation  of  the  editor  of  the  North 
American  Review,  he  discussed  the  tariff  question 
with  cogency  and  clearness  in  its  pages  in  1879. 
Again,  he  engaged  in  a  "  symposium "  in  the 
same  periodical  with  Messrs.  Elaine,  Lamar, 
Hampton,  Garfield,  Stephens,  Phillips,  and  Blair, 
upon  the  questions,  "  Ought  the  Negro  to  be 
disfranchised?  Ought  he  to  have  been  enfran 
chised?"  He  summed  up  his  answers  to  these 
questions  in  this  concise  style : 

"  I  am  not  able  to  see  why  the  subject  of  negro 
suffrage  should  be  discussed.  It  must  be  known 
to  all  that  the  late  amendments  will  not  be,  can 
not  be,  repealed.  There  is  but  the  duty  upon  all 
to  make  the  political  power  now  held  by  the  en 
franchised  race  the  cause  of  the  least  evil  and  of 
the  greatest  possible  good  to  the  country.  The 
negro  is  now  free,  and  is  the  equal  of  the  white 
man  in  respect  to  his  civil  and  political  rights. 
He  must  now  make  his  own  contest  for  position 
and  power.  By  his  own  conduct  and  success  he 
will  be  judged.  It  will  be  unfortunate  for  him  if 
he  shall  rely  upon  political  sympathy  for  position 
rather  than  upon  duties  well  and  intelligently  dis- 


IN  CONTR  0  VERS  K  277 

charged.  Everywhere  the  white  race  should  help 
him,  but  his  reliance  must  mainly  be  upon  him 
self." 

IN    THE    CAMPAIGN    OF    l88o.* 

Mr.  Hendricks'  most  notable  political  speech 
was  made  in  Indianapolis  during  the  canvass  in 
1880.  The  State  Committee  had  appointed 
August  1 4th  as  the  day  for  opening  the  cam 
paign  along  the  entire  line.  All  the  available 
orators,  both  home  and  foreign,  were  to  be 
drafted  into  the  service.  Mr.  Hendricks  was,  as 
usual,  in  universal  demand.  From  almost  every 
one  of  the  ninety-two  counties  of  Indiana  demands 
came  pouring  in  upon  the  State  Committee  insist 
ing  that  they  must  have  Hendricks.  Being  the 
leader  and  idol  of  his  party  in  Indiana,  it  had  long 
fallen  upon  him  to  make  the  speech  setting  the 
State  campaign  in  motion. 

So  strong  was  the  demand  that  he  should  carry 
out  the  precedent  which  had  established  the  com 
mon  law  of  the  party  that  Mr.  Hendricks  accepted 
the  urgent  invitation  of  the  people  of  Marion, 
Grant  County,  Ind.,  to  open  the  campaign  on 
August  1 2th,  two  days  prior  to  the  general  open 
ing  planned  by  the  Committee.  Contrary  to  his 

*  For  the  particulars  of  this  account  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  George  F. 
Parker,  of  the  Philadelphia  Times  and  the  Weekly  Post.  He  was  a 
resident  of  Indianapolis  in  1880,  and  the  above  incident  came  under  his 
personal  observation.  W.  U.  H. 


27g  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.  &ENDRICKS. 

practice,  he  prepared  his  speech  with  great  care. 
It  was  written  out  and  condensed  down-  to  the 
last  degree.  It  was  a  vigorous  presentation  of 
the  issues  of  the  day  and  the  merits  of  the  Demo 
cratic  candidates  without  a  passionate,  a  doubtful, 
or  a  useless  word.  Naturally,  Mr.  Hendricks  had 
always  felt  most  keenly  the  wrong  done  him  and 
the  country  by  the  decision  of  the  Electoral  Com 
mission,  and  had  studied  all  the  elements  which 
led  up  to  it.  He  had  given  special  attention  to 
the  proceedings  of  the  so-called  visiting  states 
men  at  New  Orleans  in  the  winter  of  1876-7,  and 
was  perfectly  familiar  with  the  share  each  one 
had  had  in  that  sinful  and  shameless  proceeding. 
At  the  close  of  the  Marion  speech  he  therefore 
took  occasion  to  animadvert  briefly  but  in  the 
severest  terms  upon  the  part  which  General  Gar- 
field  had  played  in  the  execution  of  this  wrong. 
He  asserted  that  the  Republican  Presidential  can 
didate  had  occupied  an  "inner  room"  of  the  New 
Orleans  Custom  House,  where  he  had  examined 
witnesses  from  the  country  parishes  and  had 
coached  them  in  their  testimony,  which  testimony 
he  afterward  adjudged  as  a  member  of  the  Com 
mission.  This  severe  accusation  attracted  no  un 
usual  attention  for  several  days ;  but  in  due  time 
it  came  to  General  Garfield's  attention.  The  can 
didate  did  not  deign  to  take  any  personal  notice 
even  of  so  serious  a  charge  upon  his  personal  and 
political  character,  but  by  his  advice  and  con- 


IN  CONTR  O  VERS  Y.  276 

sent  the  Indianapolis  Journal,  the  Republican 
organ,  on  the  6th  day  of  August,  contained  a 
bitter  editorial  article  reflecting  upon  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks,  accusing  him  of  misrepresenting  and  ma 
ligning  General  Garfield,  and  calling  upon  him  to 
either  substantiate  or  disavow  his  charges,  with  the 
promise  that  his  reply  would  be  published  in  its 
columns, 

Mr.  Hendricks'  attention  was  called  to  this 
article  about  nine  o'clock  of  the  day  on  which  it 
was  published.  He  at  once  resolved  to  reply  in  a 
public  speech  in  the  evening.  It  happened  to  be 
the  turn  of  the  Democrats  to  occupy  the  wigwam 
on  that  night,  and  a  young  negro  Democratic  ora 
tor  was  billed  for  the  principal  speech.  The  an 
nouncement  was  given  as  wide  a  circulation  as 
was  possible  in  the  brief  intervening  time,  by 
handbills,  wagons,  and  other  accepted  methods  of 
political  advertising,  that  Mr.  Hendricks  would 
speak  from  the  same  stand  with  the  negro.  It 
was  impossible  to  make  known  that  he  would 
reply  to  his  traducers,  but  as  the  Hoosiers  are  a 
speech-loving  people,  and  as  their  favorite  always 
drew  when  announced,  the  wigwam  was  crowded 
with  a  large  and  expectant  audience. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Hendricks,  with  only  a 
few  hours  for  preparation,  was  diligently  studying 
the  testimony  taken  by  the  different  committees 
that  had  investigated  the  New  Orleans  infamy 
and  was  making  ready  an  answer.  He  had  neither 


2gQ  LIFE   OF  THOMAS  A.  HE ND RICKS. 

time,  inclination,  nor  necessity  for  writing  his 
speech.  He  therefore  came  to  the  meeting  with 
no  notes  except  the  passages  he  had  marked  in  the 
printed  testimony,  providing  himself  with  two 
stenographers  to  make  a  verbatim  report.  Plung 
ing  at  once  into  the  subject  at  issue,  with  the  an 
nouncement  that  it  was  purely  a  question  of 
veracity  between  himself  and  his  newspaper  and 
candidate  accuser,  he  began  a  review  of  the  facts. 
Never  hesitating  for  a  word,  with  all  the  details  of 
that  extensive  conspiracy  at  his  tongue's  end,  be 
fore  an  audience  in  keenest  sympathy  with  himself 
and  his  cause,  he  showed  from  General  Garfield's 
own  testimony  that  he  had  been  in  sympathy  with 
the  conspiracy,  that  he  had  a  personal  interest  in 
its  success,  and  that  he  had  participated  in  it  at 
every  turn,  just  as  had  been  charged  in  the  Ma 
rion  speech.  Mr.  Hendricks'  manner  was  cool  and 
deliberate,  the  arrangement  of  the  matter  simple 
and  logical,  and  his  self-possession  perfect.  Every 
word  did  its  part  in  unfolding  the  story  of  this 
crowning  outrage,  by  which  the  rights  of  the  ma 
jority  of  a  people  had  been  trampled  under  foot. 
For  an  hour  and  a  quarter  did  this  terrible  and  pit 
iless  denunciation  go  on,  and  when  it  was  closed 
his  hearers  felt,  not  only  that  he  had  outdone  him 
self,  but  that  they  had  listened  to  a  masterpiece  of 
political  oratory.  When  he  had  concluded  and 
the  applause  had  been  stilled,  Mr.  Hendricks 
quietly  introduced  the  negro  to  the  audience,  he 


IN  CONTRO  VERSY.  28 1 

and  they  remaining  to  hear  an  eloquent  speech 
from  the  representative  of  the  race  upon  whose 
members  the  opposing  party  had  always  claimed 
to  have  a  mortgage. 

When  the  speech  was  published  next  day,  as  it 
was  the  country  over,  congratulations  poured  in 
upon  Mr.  Hendricks  from  every  quarter.  The 
speech  had  impressed  the  public  as  forcibly  as  it 
had  the  few  thousand  people  who  had  listened  to 
it,  and  the  response  was  equally  prompt. 

When  the  full  report  of  the  speech  was  pre 
sented  to  the  accusing  newspaper,  it  violated  all 
decency  and  its  own  promise  by  refusing  to  pub 
lish  it  or  in  any  way  correct  the  foul  aspersions 
it  had  cast  upon  the  most  distinguished  man  in  its 
own  city  or  State. . 


CHAPTER   XV. 

RENOMINATED    FOR    VICE-PRESIDENT. 

THE  results  of  the  electoral  campaign  of 
1877  were  disastrous  to  the  hopes  of  the 
Democracy  ;  hence  an  angry  contention  has 
been  waged  ever  since,  with  more  or  less  violence, 
within  the  party  as  to  who  of  its  members  was 
responsible  in  largest  degree  for  the  apparent 
assent  of  the  organization  to  the  creation  of  that 
extra-constitutional  tribunal.  In  all  the  recrimi 
nation  upon  this  subject  no  word  of  approval  for 
the  scheme  has  ever  been  reported  as  having 
issued  from  Mr.  Hendricks  in  those  troublous  days. 
Further,  it  is  not  necessary  to  dip  into  that  discus 
sion  here.  This  controversy,  in  its  various  phases, 
entered  into  the  canvass  for  the  Presidential  nomi 
nation  in  1880.  There  wasantagonism  rather  than 
co-operation  between  the  friends  of  Mr.  Tilden 
and  those  of  Mr.  Hendricks,  and  after  the  former's 
letter  of  withdrawal  was  published  it  was  gener 
ally  recognized  that  the  remaining  survivor  of  the 
"  old  ticket "  could  not  be  nominated  for  first  place. 
He  was  placed  in  nomination  in  an  eloquent 
speech  by  Senator  Voorhees  at  the  Cincinnati 
Convention  of  1880,  and  was  loyally  supported  by 
the  delegates  from  his  State,  who  did  not  offer  him 
282 


RENOMINATED  FOR   VICE-PRESIDENT.          2g^ 

for  any  other  office  nor  did  they  propose  the  name 
of  any  candidate  from  Indiana  for  second  place 
after  General  Hancock's  nomination.  Other  States 
made  Mr.  English,  of  Indiana,  the  candidate  for 
Vice-President,  and  the  delegates  from  his  own 
State  assented.  As  has  been  seen,  the  ticket  had 
Mr.  Hendricks'  most  zealous  support,  but  his  party 
in  Indiana  lacked  the  popular  influence  of  his  can 
didacy  that  year,  and  its  defeat  there  in  October 
presaged  the  general  disaster  of  November. 

Subsequently  Mr.  Hendricks  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  the  law,  devoted  his  leisure  to  literary 
work  and  personal  enjoyment,  visited  Europe,  and 
deemed  his  public  career  closed.  The  suggestion 
of  the  name  of  Hon.  Joseph  E.  McDonald,  from  his 
own  State,  for  the  Presidential  nomination  of  his 
party  met  with  his  approval  and  support,  and  by 
Mr.  McDonald's  request  Mr.  Hendricks  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  delegation  to  the  Chi 
cago  Convention  from  Indiana,  and  was  appointed 
to  put  his  distinguished  fellow-citizen  in  nomina 
tion.  At  the  same  time,  the  proposition  to  re 
dress  the  fraud  of  1876-77  by  the  renomination 
of  Tilden  and  Hendricks  met  with  such  favor  in 
Indiana  that  Mr.  McDonald  stood  ready  to  defer 
to  it  in  the  event  of  Mr.  Tilden's  consent  to  such 
renomination.  When  his  letter  of  peremptory 
declination  was  made  public,  Mr.  Hendricks  was 
entirely  out  of  the  field. 

His  appearance  in  the  National  Convention — 


284  LIFE    OF  THOMAS  A.   HE NO RICKS. 

for  the  first  time  a  delegate  to  such  a  body — cre 
ated  great  enthusiasm,  and  every  time  he  entered 
the  Convention  hall  he  was  received  with  marked 
demonstrations  of  popular  favor,  like  encomiums 
and  expressions  of  good- will  being  directed  to  the 
distinguished  Senator  Thurman,  of  Ohio,  also  a 
member  of  the  Convention.  When  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks  took  the  platform  and  made  his  speech 
nominating  Mr.  McDonald,  the  enthusiasm  in 
creased  in  force,  and  throughout  his  address  its 
points  were  marked  by  thunders  of  applause  and 
unceasing  popular  tributes  of  personal  respect. 

On  the  last  day  of  the  Convention  and  during 
its  second  ballot  for  President,  the  single  vote  of 
a  delegate  from  Illinois  for  Mr.  Hendrickshad  the 
startling  effect  of  a  spark  dropped  into  a  great 
pile  of  combustible  material.  It  has  since  trans 
pired  that  after  the  ballot  of  the  previous  night 
session,  in  which  Cleveland  had  shown  such  de 
cided  strength,  his  opponents,  after  a  careful  sur 
vey  of  the  field,  had  determined  that  Mr.  Hendricks 
was  the  only  name  upon  which  all  the  elements 
of  opposition  could  be  united  and  which  had  a 
positive  strength  that  might  be  successfully  joined 
with  these  to  make  the  movement  a  success. 
Accordingly,  by  preconcerted  arrangement — to 
which  neither  Mr.  Hendricks  nor  the  delegation 
from  his  State  was  a  party,  of  course — as  soon 
as  the  single  Illinois  vote  was  cast  for  him  a 
tumult  of  cheering  broke  out  from  every  quarter 


DENOMINATED  FOR   VICE-PRESIDENT. 

of  the  hall.  It  was  intensified  by  the  recollection 
of  the  electoral  fraud  and  strengthened  by  the 
sentiment  rife  in  the  Convention  for  the  renom- 
ination  of  the  "  old  ticket,"  or  at  least  a  repre 
sentative  of  it.  Personal  consideration  for  Mr. 
Hendricks  and  local  pride  in  a  Western  nomination 
swelled  the  greeting  which  his  name  received,  and 
for  nearly  half  an  hour  the  sight  and  sound  that 
ensued  were  such  as  to  baffle  descriptive  powers. 
The  vast  audience  was  moved  to  louder  and 
deeper  and  more  expressive  demonstrations  of  its 
satisfaction,  and  the  tumult  reached  its  climax 
when  the  banner  of  Indiana  was  carried  to  the 
President's  desk  and  Senator  Voorhees'  tall  form 
and  waving  arms,  looming  up  like  the  branching 
sycamore,  were  seen  on  the  platform,  and  his  rich, 
sonorous  voice  told  of  the  transfer  of  Indiana's 
votes  from  McDonald  to  Hendricks. 

But  the  flood  was  broken  against  the  break 
water  of  the  rest  of  the  Illinois  delegation,  who 
announced  the  bulk  of  their  vote  for  Cleveland. 
The  superior  organization,  cooler  heads,  and  bet 
ter  discipline  of  his  forces  triumphed,  and  his  nom 
ination  was  soon  accomplished. 

During  this  eventful  time  bulletin  boards  all 
over  the  country  and  at  nearly  every  cross-roads 
in  Indiana  revealed  the  situation,  and  for  a  half 
hour  the  name  of  Hendricks  was  on  every  lip  as 
the  likely  nominee  for  President.  The  sudden 
and  totally  unexpected  demonstration  of  the 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

popular  esteem  for  him  overtook  him  with  such 
startling  effect  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  a 
delegate,  that,  after  the  motion  was  offered  and 
put  and  carried,  at  his  instance,  to  make  Mr. 
Cleveland's  nomination  unanimous,  he  retired 
from  the  Convention,  leaving  Mr.  English  to  act 
in  his  stead,  and  went  to  his  hotel  for  rest. 

During  the  recess  taken  after  the  head  of  the 
ticket  was  named,  the  prominent  members  of  the 
party  held  a  hurried  consultation  as  to  the  best 
name  with  which  to  supplement  the  choice  of  the 
Governor  of  New  York.  The  fitness  of  Mr. 
Hendricks'  selection  was  almost  unanimously  con 
ceded,  and  to  the  suggestion  that  it  would  be  dis 
tasteful  to  him  and  force  the  Convention  to  make 
another  choice,  the  ready  answer  from  those  who 
knew  him  best,  though  without  any  authority  to 
speak  for  him,  was  that  he  held  his  party  duty  too 
high  to  decline  any  service  imposed  upon  him 
by  its  expressed  will. 

When  the  Convention  met  and  the  roll  of 
States  was  called,  there  were  various  nomina 
tions  made  until  Pennsylvania  was  reached,  and 
then  ex-Senator  W.  A.  Wallace  arose  and  said  : 

"  I  rise  again  in  my  place  on  the  floor  of  this 
Convention,  not  to  place  in  nomination  a  Pennsyl 
vania  man  by  birth,  but,  sir,  to  place  in  nomination 
for  the  second  gift  of  the  American  people  a  man 
springing  from  old  Pennsylvania's  stock,  from  the 
western  portion  of  the  Commonwealth.  In  the 


RENOMINATED  FOR   VICE-PRESIDENT. 

star  of  the  West  he  found  the  lineage  that  gives 
him  to  the  West.  This  gentleman  is  conversant 
with  public  affairs  ;  throughout  his  entire  life  he 
has  known  of  government  and  its  details.  Not 
only  a  statesman,  but  a  pure  and  upright  citizen, 
the  representative  of  the  grossest  wrong  that  was 
ever  perpetrated  upon  the  American  people,  I 
nominate  to  this  Convention  as  its  candidate  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  of  the  United  States  Thomas 
A.  Hendricks." 

Immediately  the  scenes  of  the  previous  ses 
sion  were  renewed  with  undiminished  force.  The 
Indiana  delegates,  in  the  heat  of  their  disappoint 
ment  at  the  events  of  the  earlier  session,  sought 
to  dissuade  and  discourage  the  Convention  by 
statements  that  Mr.  Hendricks  was  not  a  candi 
date,  and  by  intimations  that  he  might  not  accept. 
But  it  was  all  in  vain.  The  tide  rose  higher  and 
higher.  Governor  Waller,  of  Connecticut ;  ex- 
Senator  Wallace,  Governor  Hubbard,  of  Texas 
and  one  after  another  distinguished  representa 
tives  of  solid  delegations  spoke  for  Hendricks' 
nomination  and  with  enthusiasm,  but  upon  the 
deliberate  call  of  the  roll  every  vote  in  the  Con 
vention  was  reported  for  him.  The  scene  that 
followed  is  thus  described  by  an  eye-witness : 

"When  the  vote  of  Indiana  was  announced  for 
Hendricks,  and  it  was  apparent  that  his  nomina 
tion  was  unanimous,  the  delegates  and  the  audi 
ence  rose  to  their  feet.  The  whole  house  was  a 


2 gg  LIFE  OJ<   THOMAS  A.  HEA'DRICKS. 

sea  of  undulating  color,  formed  by  waving  hand 
kerchiefs  of  every  hue,  hats,  umbrellas,  and  every 
thing  else  which  could  be  seized  upon  by  the  ex 
cited  assemblage.  The  band  broke  in  with  the 
strains  of '  Hail  to  the  Chief;'  a  number  of  the 
delegates  seized  the  standards  and  bore  them  to 
the  platform,  where  they  were  gathered  into  a 
cluster,  about  which  were  congregated  two  or 
three  hundred  delegates,  who  formed  themselves 
into  a  procession  and  marched  around  the  hall, 
while  the  band  favored  the  crowd  with  '  The  Star 
Spangled  Banner.'  Immediately  upon  the  cessa 
tion  of  the  music  the  people  began  again  with  a 
second  chapter  of  uproar,  when  the  band  came  in 
with  '  Dixie,'  followed  with  '  Auld  Lang  Syne/ 
thousands  of  voices  chanting  the  words.  Then 

o 

the  solemn  notes  of 'Old  Hundred'  came  floating 
down  from  the  gallery,  and  ten  thousand  voices 
joined  in  the  grand  old  hymn.  'America'  and 
'  Home,  Sweet  Home'  were  rendered  by  the  band 
and  voiced  by  the  crowd,  and  the  demonstration, 
after  a  continuance  of  something  over  twenty 
minutes,  was  at  an  end." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

AFTER   THE    NOMINATION. 

THE  news  reached  Indianapolis  promptly 
and  revived  the  enthusiasm,  which  had 
been  checked  by  the  disappointment  felt 
after  Mr.  Hendricks'  failure  to  be  nominated  for 
President.  About  midnight  a  salute  was  fired, 
and  early  next  morning  Mr.  Hendricks,  returning 
to  his  home,  was  greeted  on  all  sides  with  con 
gratulations  and  was  visited  during  the  succeed 
ing  day  by  hundreds  of  his  friends  and  fellow- 
townsmen.  At  a  ratification  meeting  called  on 
Saturday  night,  to  which  he  was  escorted  by 
crowds  of  citizen  Democrats,  he  spoke  extempo 
raneously,  expressing  his  grateful  recognition  of 
the  kindness  shown  him  by  his  party  of  the  whole 
country  and  of  the  expression  of  good  feeling  on 
the  part  of  his  neighbors.  He  thus  voiced  the 
Democratic  demand  for  an  opening  of  the  books 
in  Washington  : 

"  I  will  tell  you  what  we  need — Democrats 
and  Republicans  will  alike  agree  upon  that — we 
need  to  have  the  books  in  the  Government  office 
opened  for  examination.  [Cheers,  and  cries  'That 
is  it.']  Do  you  think  that  men  in  this  a«e  never 
yield  to  temptation  ?  [Laughter.]  It  is  only  two 

289 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

weeks  ago  that  one  of  the  Secretaries  at  Wash 
ington  was  called  before  the  Senate  Committee  to 
testify  in  regard  to  the  condition  of  his  depart 
ment,  and  in  that  department  was  the  Bureau  of 
Medicine  and  Surgery.  In  that  department  an 
examination  was  being  had  by  a  committee  from 
the  Senate,  and  it  was  ascertained  by  the  oath  of 
the  Secretary  who  sits  at  the  head  of  the  depart 
ment  that  the  defalcation  found  during  last  year, 
as  far  as  it  had  been  estimated,  was  sixty-three 
thousand  dollars.  And  when  asked  about  it,  he 
said  that  he  had  received  a  letter  a  year  ago  in 
forming  him  of  some  of  these  outrages,  and  a 
short  time  since  somebody  had  come  to  him  and 
told  him  there  were  frauds  going  on  in  the  ser 
vice  ;  but  members  of  Congress  had  recommended 
a  continuance  of  the  head  of  the  bureau  with  such 
earnestness  that  he  thought  it  must  be  all  right, 
and  now  it  turns  out  that  the  public  was  sixty- 
three  thousand  dollars  out,  and  how  much  more 
no  man,  I  expect,  can  now  tell.  But  what  is  the 
remedy  ?  To  have  a  President  who  will  appoint 
a  head  of  the  bureau  that  will  investigate  the  con 
dition  of  the  books  and  bring  all  guilty  parties  to 
trial." 

In  the  foregoing  speech,  and  in  his  speech  nomi 
nating  Mr.  McDonald  in  the  Convention,  Mr. 
Hendricks  had  animadverted  severely  upon  the 
decline  of  official  indignation  at  corruption  by  the 
reference  to  William  E.  Chandler's  indifference 


AFTER  THE  NOMINATION. 

when  the  defalcation  of  sixty-three  thousand  dol 
lars  in  the  Bureau  of  Medicine  and  Surgery  was 
discovered.  Secretary  Chandler  thought  it  in 
cumbent  upon  him  to  take  cognizance  of  this 
second  attack,  and  replied  in  an  open  letter,  in 
which  he  defended  himself  by  alleging  that  much 
of  the  defalcation  occurred  before  he  came  into 
office,  and  by  asserting  that  many  Democrats  had 
recommended  Dr.  Wales,  the  chief  of  the  Bureau, 
for  reappointment.  Thereupon  Mr.  Hendricks 
replied  by  an  open  letter  on  the  following  day  as 
follows  : 

MR.  HENDRICKS'  LETTER. 

INDIANAPOLIS,  July  i4th,  1884. 
The  Hon.   W.  E.  Chandler  : 

SIR:  I  find  in  the  newspapers  this  morning  a 
letter  to  me  from  yourself,  written  yesterday  and 
circulated  through  the  Associated  Press.  You 
complain  that  I  did  you  injustice  in  an  address  to 
the  people  of  this  city,  made  the  evening  before. 
In  that  address  I  urged  that  "  We  need  to  have 
the  books  in  the  Government  office  opened  for 
examination,"  and  as  an  illustration  I  cited  the 
case  of  a  fraudulent  voucher  in  one  of  the  bureaus 
of  your  department,  and  stated  that  upon  your  tes 
timony  before  a  sub-committee  of  the  Senate,  it 
appeared  that  the  frauds  amounted  to  sixty-three 
thousand  dollars.  And  is  not  every  word  of  that 
true  ?  You  were  brought  before  the  committee 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  HENDKICKS. 

and  testified  as  I  stated.  You  admitted  under 
oath  that  the  sum  of  money  lost  amounted  to  six 
ty-three  thousand  dollars,  but  your  defense  was 
that  the  embezzlement  did  not  wholly  occur  under 
your  administration,  but  that  a  part  of  it  was 
under  that  of  your  predecessor.  It  seems  to  have 
covered  the  period  from  June  2ist,  1880,  down  to 
January  25th,  1884.  Does  that  help  your  case  ? 
You  were  at  the  head  of  the  department  a  year  and 
nine  months  of  that  period,  and  your  predecessor 
about  one  year  and  ten  months.  He  was  in  office 
at  the  payment  of  the  first  false  voucher,  on  June 
2ist,  1880,  and  up  to  April  I7th,  1882,  when  you 
came  in,  and  you  continued  thence  until  the  last 
false  voucher  was  paid,  January  25th,  1884.  The 
period  was  almost  equally  divided  between  your 
self  and  your  predecessor.  How  much  of  the  six 
ty-three  thousand  dollars  was  paid  out  under 
yourself  and  how  much  under  your  predecessor 
your  letter  does  not  show.  But,  sir,  upon  the 
question  that  I  was  discussing,  does  it  make  any 
difference  who  was  Secretary  when  the  false 
vouchers  were  paid  ? 

I  urged  that  in  cases  like  this,  when  frauds  are 
concocted  in  the  vaults  or  in  the  books  of  the  de 
partment,  the  only  remedy  of  the  people  is  by  a 
change  of  the  control,  so  that  the  books  and  vouch 
ers  shall  come  under  the  examination  of  new  and 
disinterested  men.  Do  you  think  I  am  answered 
when  you  say  I  was  mistaken  in  supposing  that  in 


AFTER  THE  NOMINA  TION.  2  Q  „ 

this  case  the  frauds  were  all  under  your  adminis 
tration,  when,  in  fact,  a  part  of  them  extended  back 
into  that  of  your  predecessors  ?      Why,  sir,  that 
makes  your  case  worse.     For  the  Bureau  of 'Med 
icine  and  Surgery  the  defalcation  is  large,  but  the 
more  serious  fact  is  that  it  could  and  did  extend 
through  two  administrations  of  the  department,  a 
period  of  nearly  four  years,  without  detection.  But 
it  becomes  more  serious,  so  far  as  you  are  individ 
ually  concerned,  when  the  fact  is  considered  that 
you  had   notice  and  yet  took  no  sufficient  action. 
The  information  upon  which  I   spoke  was  from 
Washington,  the  26th  of  last  month,  by  the  Asso 
ciated  Press,  the  same  that  brings  me  your  letter. 
The  Associated  Press  obtained  its  information 
either  in  your  department  or  from  the  investigat 
ing  committee.      If  you  were    not  correctly  re 
ported,  that    was    the    time    for   complaint   and 
correction.      You  testified  that  the  total  of  the 
suspicious  vouchers  discovered  so  far  was  about 
sixty-three  thousand  dollars,  and  that  the  money 
fraudulently  obtained  was  in  some  instances  divi 
ded  between  a  watchman  in  the  department  Car- 
rigan,  the  Chief  Clerk,  and  Kirkwood,  in   charge 
of  the   accounts.     Now,   what   notice   had  you? 
According  to  the  Associated  Press  report  of  your 
testimony  you  received  a  letter  last  year  charging 
Carrigan,  one   of  the  parties,  with  drunkenness, 
and  after  that  a  man   came  to  you  and  told  you 
that    Kirkwood   and    Carrigan  were  engaged  in 


LIFE    OF   THOMAS  A.  HENDRICKS. 

frauds.  Did  not  that  put  you  upon  notice  and  in 
vestigation  ?  You  testified  that  some  inquiry  was 
made,  and  the  conclusion  was  that  while  there 
was  some  suspicious  circumstances  they  did  not 
warrant  a  conclusion  of  guilt.  After  a  notice, 
verbal  and  in  writing,  you  left  the  men  in  office. 
You  did  not  bring  the  fraud  to  light  nor  the  guilty 
parties  to  punishment.  It  was  Government  De 
tective  Wood  who  discovered  the  frauds,  and  the 
Associated  Press  report  says  that  Wood  declared 
he  would  have  no  further  dealings  with  your  de 
partment,  but  would  press  an  investigation  before 
Congress. 

o 

What  is  your  next  excuse?  Worse,  if  possible, 
than  all  before.  You  say  a  large  number  of  Con 
gressmen,  including  some  gentlemen  of  great 
influence  and  position,  recommended  that  the 
head  of  the  bureau,  Dr.  Wales,  should  be  reap- 
pointed.  Members  of  Congress  knew  nothing  of 
the  frauds;  they  had  no  opportunity  to  know.  It 
was  within  your  reach  and  duty.  They  were 
probably  his  personal  friends ;  you  were  his 
official  superior.  But,  in  fact,  did  you  reappoint 
him?  I  understand  not.  Perhaps  the  detective 
discovered  the  frauds  too  soon.  But  Dr.  Wales 
was  not  one  of  the  three  guilty  parties.  He 
neither  forged  the  vouchers  nor  embezzled  the 
money.  His  responsibility  in  the  case  is  just  the 
same  as  your  own.  He  was  the  official  superior 
of  the  three  rogues,  as  you  were  of  himself  as 


AFTER  THE  DOMINATION. 

well  as  of  them.  Neither  he  nor  yourself  exposed 
the  frauds  or  punished  the  parties.  I  have  not 
thought  of  or  considered  this  as  a  case  of  politics. 
Addressing  my  neighbors,  I  said  that  this  and  like 
cases  admonish  them  to  demand  civil  service  re 
form  in  the  removal  from  office  who  will  not  seek 
to  promote  it  within  the  sphere  of  their  official 
duty  and  authority  of  all.  Respectfully, 

T.  A.  HENDRICKS. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  without  further  re 
joinder,  started  out  to  sea  upon  the  Government 
vessel  Tallapoosa,  visiting  the  seaports  and  navy 
yards  of  the  Atlantic  coast. 

With  this  prompt  deliverance  upon  the  vital 
issues  of  the  day,  Mr.  Hendricks'  candidacy  for 
his  second  election  to  the  Vice-Presidency  was 
placed  before  the  country,  and  there  is  every 
likelihood  that  in  its  results  will  be  realized  the 
fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  which  he  uttered  at 
the  Manhattan  Club  reception  in  New  York  in 

1877: 

"  A  great  and  sincere  people  will  pass  their 
final  verdict  upon  the  outrageous  act.  Demo 
cratic  principles  will  be  carried  out  by  Democrats 
and  by  such  fair-minded  Republicans  as  will  not 
make  themselves  a  party  to  the  wrong  done  last 
winter.  This  will  be  accomplished  by  the  major 
ity  of  voters  in  the  several  States  *  *  *  and 
Indiana  will  again  do  her  duty/' 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

NOTIFICATION    AND    ACCEPTANCE. 

FOR  several  weeks  subsequent  to  the  Chi 
cago  Convention  Mr.  Hendricks  remained 
at  his  home  in  Indianapolis,  where  he  re 
ceived  the  visits  and  congratulations  of  many 
political  and  personal  friends  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  and  disposed  of  a  vast  amount  of  corre 
spondence.  Toward  the  close  of  July,  accom 
panied  by  Mrs.  Hendricks,  he  went  to  Saratoga, 
as  had  been  his  wont  in  the  summer,  and  during 
his  stay  there  was  visited  by  the  Committee  of 
the  National  Convention  appointed  to  officially 
inform  him  of  his  nomination.  On  Wednesday, 
July  3Oth,  the  day  after  the  Committee  had  waited 
upon  Governor  Cleveland  for  a  similar  purpose, 
its  members  assembled  in  the  ladies'  parlor  of  the 
Grand  Union  Hotel,  Saratoga,  to  present  their 
address  to  Mr.  Hendricks.  The  room  was 
crowded  with  a  brilliant  company  of  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  who  greeted  the  appearance  of  Mr. 
Hendricks  with  applause.  The  members  of  the 
Committee  arose  when  he  entered,  and  remained 
on  their  feet  during  the  proceedings. 

Colonel  W.  F.  Vilas,  Chairman  of  the  Commit 
tee,  then  addressed  the  nominee  and  presented 
296 


NO TIFICA TION  AND  A CCE  FINANCE. 

the  formal  notification  of  his  Committee.     After  it 
had  been  read  Mr.  Hendricks  replied  as  follows  : 

MR.  HENDRICKS'  REPLY. 

"  MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  COM 
MITTEE  :  I  cannot  realize  that  a  man  should  ever 
stand  in  the  presence  of  a  committee  representing1 
a  more  august  body  of  men  than  that  which  you 
represent.  In  the  language  of  another, '  the  Con 
vention  was  large  in  numbers,  august  in  culture, 
and  patriotic  in  sentiment,'  and  may  I  not  add  to 
that,  that  because  of  the  power  and  greatness  and 
the  virtues  of  the  party  which  it  represented  it  was 
itself  in  every  respect  a  very  great  Convention. 

"The  delegates  came  from  all  the  States  and 
Territories,  and  I  believe,  too,  from  the  District  of 
Columbia.  They  came  clothed  with  authority  to 
express  judgment  and  opinion  on  all  those  ques 
tions  which  are  not  settled  by  constitutional  law. 
For  the  purpose  of  passing  upon  those  questions 
and  selecting  a  ticket  for  the  people  that  Conven 
tion  assembled.  They  decided  upon  the  princi 
ples  that  they  would  adopt  as  a  platform.  They 
selected  the  candidates  that  they  would  propose 
to  the  party  for  their  support,  and  that  Convention 
work  was  theirs. 

"  I  have  not  reached  the  period  when  it  was  pro 
per  for  me  to  consider  the  strength  and  force  of 
the  statements  made  in  the  platform.  It  is  enough 
for  me  to  know  that  it  comes  at  your  hands  from 


2Qg  LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A.  H END  RICKS. 

that  Convention,  addressed  to  my  patriotic  devo 
tion  to  the  Democratic  party.  I  appreciate  the 
honor  that  is  done  me ;  I  need  not  question  that. 
But  at  the  same  time  that  I  accept  the  honor  from 
you  and  from  the  Convention,  I  feel  that  the  duties 
and  responsibility  of  the  office  rest  upon  me  also. 

"I  know  that  sometimes  it  is  understood  that  this 
particular  office — that  of  Vice-President — does  not 
involve  much  responsibility,  and  as  a  general  thing 
that  is  so,  but  sometimes  it  comes  to  represent 
very  great  responsibilities,  and  it  may  be  so  in  the 
near  future,  for  at  this  time  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  stands  almost  equally  divided  be 
tween  the  two  great  parties,  and  it  may  be  that 
those  two  great  parties  shall  so  exactly  differ  that 
the  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  shall  have 
to  decide  upon  questions  of  law  by  the  exercise 
of  the  casting  vote.  The  responsibility  would 
then  become  very  great.  It  would  not  then  be 
the  responsibility  of  representing  a  State  or  a 
district ;  it  would  be  the  responsibility  of  repre 
senting  the  whole  country,  and  the  obligation 
would  be  to  the  judgment  of  the  whole  country, 
and  that  vote,  when  thus  cast,  should  be  in  obedi 
ence  to  the  just  expectations  and  requirements  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  It  might  be, 
gentlemen,  that  upon  another  occasion  this  respon 
sibility  would  attach  to  the  office : 

"It  might  occur  that  under  circumstances  of 
some  difficulty — I  don't  think  it  will  be  next  elec- 


NO  T1F1CA  TION  AND  A  CCEP TANCE. 

tion,  but  it  may  occur  under  circumstances  of 
some  difficulty — the  President  of  the  Senate  will 
have  to  take  his  part  in  the  counting  of  the  elec 
toral  vote ;  and  allow  me  to  say  that  that  duty  is 
not  to  be  discharged  in  obedience  to  any  set  of 
men  or  to  any  party,  but  in  obedience  to  a  higher 
authority.  Gentlemen,  you  have  referred  to  the 
fact  that  I  am  honored  by  this  nomination  in  a 
very  special  degree.  I  accept  the  suggestion  that 
in  this  candidacy  I  will  represent  the  right  of  the 
people  to  choose  their  own  rulers,  that  right  that 
is  above  all,  that  lies  beneath  all,  for  if  the  people 
are  denied  the  right  to  choose  their  own  officers 
according  to  their  own  judgment,  what  shall  be 
come  of  the  rights  of  the  people  at  all  ?  What 
shall  become  of  free  government  if  the  people 
select  not  their  officers  ?  how  shall  they  control 
the  laws,  their  administration  and  their  execution? 
so  that  in  suggesting  that  in  this  candidacy  I  repre 
sent  that  right  of  the  people,  as  you  have  sug 
gested,  a  great  honor  has  devolved  upon  me  by 
the  confidence  of  the  Convention.  As  soon  as  it 
may  be  convenient  and  possible  to  do  so  I  will 
address  you  more  formally  in  respect  to  the  letter 
you  have  given  me.  I  thank  you,  gentlemen." 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Hendricks'  remarks  hearty 
applause  was  given,  and  a  general  handshaking 
followed,  after  which  the  assembled  audience  paid 
their  respects  to  Mr.  Hendricks  and  then  quietly 
dispersed. 


RECORD 


DEMOCRATIC  CONVENTION 


CHICAGO, 

JtTIj3r    8-11,    1884. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GATHERING   OF   THE    HOSTS. 

WHETHER  Chicago  is  to  be  congratu 
lated  or  to  be  pitied  in  her  flood  of 
nominating  conventions  is  a  question. 
Those  who  live  by  troops  of  visitors  and  lodgers — 
hotel  and  boarding-house  people,  venders  of  cigars, 
refreshments,  drinks,  peanuts,  etc.,  rejoice.  News 
boys,  bootblacks,  car  drivers,  and  cabmen  find  plenty 
to  do ;  but  whether  the  solid,  sensible,  orderly,  quiet- 
loving  souls  are  happy  is  the  problem.  Possibly 
Chicago  is  not  overstocked  with  residents  lof  that 
character.  If  this  be  so,  Chicago  is  constitutionally 
the  place  for  nominating  conventions. 

Some  idea  of  the  "racket"  raised  on  Sunday 
morning,  July  6th,  1884,  may  be  caught'  from  the 
following  graphic  picture,  sketched  by  an  eye-wit 
ness.  He  says :  "  At  a  very,  very  early  hour  this 
morning  the  New  York  County  Democracy,  five 
hundred  strong,  each  man  decorated  with  a  two- 
story  badge  and  mansard  roof  attachment,  entered 
the  town  amid  a  blaze  of  rockets,  the  glare  of  cal 
cium  lights,  and  the  brilliancy  of  Roman  candles. 
The  bands  played,  and  the  boys  swore  because  all 
of  the  places  for  refreshment  had  been  closed  since 
one  o'clock  in  the  mornin.  The  Americus  Club, 


304  GATHERING  OF  THE  HOSTS. 

of  Philadelphia,  with  the  Weccacoe  Band,  escorted 
by  the  Cook  County  Democratic  Club,  also  made 
the  city  lively  for  an  hour  or  so  by  marching  through 
the  principal  streets.  Cream-colored  hats  and 
dark-brown  suits  constituted  the  uniform  of  the 
members,  and  the  lapel  of  every  coat  was  em 
blazoned  with  a  badge  of  purple  and  gold  as 
handsome  as  a  Fifth  Avenue  front  door. 

"The  Irving  Hall  Democracy  got  in  at  five,  and 
had  for  their  welcome  the  escort  of  the  County 
Democracy,  the  crowd  massing,  as  usual,  at  the 
Palmer  House. 

"After  the  County  Democracy  had  escorted  the 
Irving  Hall  party  to  the  Palmer  and  marched  them 
over  the  broad  streets,  the  different  sections  of  the 
newly  arrived  delegation  were  distributed  among 
the  hotels.  The  appearances  of  the  men  were  not 
only  good,  but  their  marching  elicited  applause  all 
along  the  route. 

"  The  noise  of  the  half-dozen  bands  had  scarcely 
stopped  when  another  escort  was  formed,  composed 
of  the  Cook  County  Democratic  Club,  the  Americus 
Club,  and  Samuel  J.  Randall  Club,  of  Philadelphia, 
all  with  banners,  flags,  and  colors  flying,  moving 
over  the  same  route  just  covered  by  the  Irving  Hall 
party.  They  marched  to  the  Michigan  Southern 
depot,  where,  at  half-past  six,  the  trains  bearing 
Tammany  were  unloaded  of  their  precious  burden. 
All  Chicago  had  by  this  time  prayed,  dined,  and 
wined,  and  for  recreation  and  out  of  curiosity 


GATHERING  OF  THE  HOSTS. 


305 


crowded  along  the  line  the  procession  was  ex 
pected  to  pass.  Mayor  Harrison  contributed  a 
guiding  escort  of  some  of  the  'finest'  the  city  can 
produce.  It  was  not  intended  Tammany  should 
parade  until  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  to  give  the 
sachems,  braves,  and  warriors  time  to  wash  and 
change  their  feathers ;  but  Irving  Hall  had  just 
made  so  much  music,  and  the  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands  that  blocked  the  thoroughfares  were 
so  expectant,  that  it  was  resolved  at  the  last  mo 
ment  to  oqve  the  town  a  treat." 

o 

So  it  readily  came  to  pass  all  through  the  day 
that  clatter  and  bang  and  push  and  drive  were  in 
order,  much  to  the  disorder  of  things  generally 
and  to  the  discomfort  of  the  good  citizens  and 

o 

church-goers.  But  to  all  ills  there  is  an  end,  and 
so,  after  the  rush  of  Sunday  and  of  Monday,  the 
eventful  opening-day  arrived,  dawning  cool  and 
clear. 

Promptly  at  12:30  P.  M.  on  Tuesday,  July  8th, 
1884,  the  Convention  was  called  to  order  by  ex- 
Senator  Barnum,  Chairman  of  the  National  Dem 
ocratic  Committee. 

Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  D.  C.  Marquis,  of 
the  Northwestern  Theological  Seminary.  He 
prayed  for  "a  blessing  on  this  great  assembly  of 
representative  citizens,  that  they  should  be  en 
dowed  plentifully  with  that  wisdom  which  is  first 
pure,  then  peaceable,  and  gentle,  and  easy  to  be 
entreated;  that  nothing  should  be  done  through 


306  GATHERING  OF  THE  HOSTS. 

strife  and  vain  jealousy,  but  that  they  should  be 
filled  with  that  charity  which  is  not  puffed  up  and 
doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly."  He  prayed 
that  their  deliberations  would  be  guided  to  such 
conclusions  as  would  best  promote  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  welfare  of  the  nation.  Chairman 
Barnum  said  : 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION  :  Harmony 
seems  to  be  the  sentiment  of  this  Convention. 
Even  the  air  seems  saturated  with  a  desire  and 
determination  to  nominate  a  ticket  for  President 
and  Vice-President  which  will  be  satisfactory  to 
the  North  and  to  the  South,  to  the  East  and  to  the 
West ;  nay,  more,  a  ticket  that  will  harmonize  the 
Democracy  throughout  the  Union  and  insure  a 
victory  in  November.  Harmony  prevailed  in  the 
deliberations  of  the  National  Committee.  No 
effort  was  made  to  nominate  a  temporary  Chair 
man  in  the  interest  of  any  candidate,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  cne  who  shall  preside  over  the  delibera 
tions  of  this  Convention  with  absolute  impar 
tiality. 

In  that  spirit,  and  to  that  end,  I  have  been  di 
rected  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  National 
Committee  to  name  the  Hon.  Richard  B.  Hub- 
bard,  of  Texas,  for  temporary  Chairman  of  this 
Convention.  As  many  as  favor  the  election  of 
R.  B.  Hubbard  for  temporary  Chairman  will  say 
"aye."  [A  universal  "  aye."]  Contrary,  "  no." 
[Not  a  voice  responded  on  this  side.]  Hon.  R. 


GATHER  ING  OF  THE  HOSTS. 


309 


B.  Hubbard,  of  Texas,  is  unanimously  elected 
temporary  Chairman  of  this  Convention.  The 
Chair  appoints  Senator  B.  F.  Jonas,  of  Louisiana  ; 
Hon.  George  T.  Barnes,  of  Georgia,  and  Hon. 
Abram  S.  Hewitt,  of  New  York,  a  committee  to 
wait  upon  Mr.  Hubbard  and  conduct  him  to  the 
chair."  Mr.  Hubbard  having  been  led  to  the  plat 
form,  the  Chairman  led  him  to  the  front,  and  said: 
"  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention,  I  have  the  dis 
tinguished  honor  of  presenting  to  this  Conven 
tion  Hon.  Richard  B.  Hubbard,  of  Texas,  as  the 
absolutely  impartial  temporary  Chairman  of  this 
Convention." 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  TEMPORARY  CHAIRMAN. 

Mr.  Hubbard  came  forward  amid  loud  applause, 
and  said  : 

"  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Democratic 
Convention  of  the  Union  :  I  am  profoundly  grate 
ful  for  the  confidence  which  you  have  reposed  in 
me  in  ratifying  the  nomination  of  the  National 
Executive  Committee,  who  have  done  your  bid 
ding  for  the  last  four  years  by  your  authority.  I 
accept  it,  my  fellow-Democrats,  not  as  a  tribute 
to  the  humble  citizen  and  your  fellow-Democrat 
who  speaks  to  you  to-day,  but  rather  as  a  com 
pliment  to  the  great  State  from  whence  I  come — 
a  State  which,  more  than  any  other  American 
State,  is  absolutely  cosmopolitan  in  every  fibre  of 
its  being.  In  its  early  days  and  struggles,  thither 
came  to  our  relief,  as  the  winds  sweep  across  the 


3io 


GA  THE  RING  OF  THE  HOSTS. 


sea,  men  of  Illinois  and  New  York,  men  of  Maine 
and  New  England,  men  of  Georgia  and  alono-  the 

o  o  o 

coast,  gave  their  lives  at  the  Alamo  and  San  Ja- 
cinto  for  the  freedom  of  Texas.  I  can  only  recall 
to  you  in  the  brief  moments  which  I  shall  detain 
you  the  fact  that  our  neighboring  sister  State, 
her  women — her  glorious  Spartan  women — sent 
to  us  the  twin  cannon  that  belched  into  glorious 
victory  at  San  Jacinto  ;  but  above  all  we  accept  it 
as  a  tribute  to  the  fact,  my  fellow-Democrats,  that 
Texas,  with  her  2,000,000  people,  gladly  at  each 
recurring  election  place  in  the  ballot-box  over 
100,000  Democratic  majority. 

"  Fellow-Democrats,  we  have  met  upon  an  occa 
sion  of  great  and  absorbing  interest  to  our  party 
as  well  as  to  our  common  country.  The  occasion 
would  not  justify  me,  nor  demand  that  I  should 
attempt,  to  speak  to  you  of  its  great  history  and 
its  distinctive  principles  through  two-thirds  of  the 
most  glorious  history  of  our  country.  ,1  could 
not  stop  to  discuss,  if  I  would,  its  munificent  policy 
of  progress ;  the  part  which  she  has  taken  in 
building  up  our  country,  its  progress,  its  territory, 
and  its  wealth.  I  can  only  say  to  you  to-day,  in 
brief,  that  the  Democratic  party  in  all  the  essen 
tial  elements  is  the  same  as  it  was  when  it  was 
founded  by  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  nearly 
three-quarters  of  a  century  ago. 

"  Men  die  as  the  leaves  of  autumn,  but  prin 
ciples  underlying  liberty  and  self-government 


GATHERING  OF  THE  HOSTS.  .,  j  r 

— the  right  of  representation  and  taxation  going 
hand  in  hand  ;  economy  in  the  administration  of 
the  Government,  so  that  the  Government  shall 
make  the  burdens  as  small  as  they  may  be  upon 
the  millions  who  constitute  our  countrymen — 
these  and  other  principles  underlie  the  Demo 
cratic  party  and  cannot  be  effaced  from  the  earth, 
though  their  authors  may  be  numbered  with  the 
dead. 

"  I  thank  God,  fellow-citizens,  that  though  we 
have  been  out  of  power  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen 
tury,  we  are  to-day,  in  all  that  makes  adherence 
and  confidence  and  zeal,  as  much  a  party  organ 
ized  for  aggressive  war  as  when  the  banners  of 
victory  waved  over  our  heads. 

"The  Democratic  party,  fellow-citizens,  since 
the  war  time,  commencing  with  reconstruction, 
with  our  hands  manacled,  with  our  ballot-boxes 
surrounded  by  the  gleaming  bayonet,  with  carpet 
bag  rulers,  with  the  voice  of  freemen  who  pay 
their  taxes  to  the  Government  stifled — the  Demo 
cratic  party  has  lived  to  see  through  all  this  mis 
rule  the  day  come  when  in  a  great  majority  of  our 
States  the  Democratic  party  has  resumed  its  con 
trol,  its  power.  It  has  your  House  of  Representa 
tives,  and  but  for  treason  stalking  in  the  Senate 
Chamber  we  would  have  that,  too. 

"We  have  had  the  Presidency,  too.  But  with 
impious  hands — the  hands  of  the  robber — our 
rights  were  stricken  down  at  the  ballot-box,  and, 


2  i  2  GA  THE  RING  OF  THE  HOSTS. 

through  perjury  and  bribery  and  corruption,  men, 
uttering  falsehood  through  pale  lips  and  chatter 
ing  teeth,  in  the  very  temples  of  liberty,  stole  the 
Presidency  from  this  country.  Some  of  the  men 
who  participated  in  it  have  passed  beyond  the 
river  and  stand  to  give  an  account  of  their  stew 
ardship.  But  history  will  not  lie  when  it  records, 
as  it  has,  that  that  Electoral  Commission  an 
nounced  in  the  Senate  Chamber  through  the 

o 

House  that  it  would  consider  the  question  and 
the  evidence  of  fraud  in  the  returns  of  the  vote  of 
Louisiana.  I  remember  it.  It  is  the  blackest 
page  in  our  country's  history,  and  all  good  Re 
publicans  to-day  are  ashamed  of  it. 

"They  turned  their  faces  as  well  as  their  con 
sciences  upon  the  promise  of  the  past,  and  re 
fused  to  consider  the  evidence,  all  reeking  with 
ignominy  and  bribery  and  shame,  and  counted  in 
a  man  who  had  not  received  under  the  Constitu 
tion  and  the  laws  the  suffrages  of  his  countrymen. 
That  is  a  wrong  that  we  have  met  here  to  right. 
Eight  years  have  passed,  that  is  true.  We  are 
told  that  the  law  has  given  the  verdict  to  them; 
that  is  true.  When  a  jury  is  in  its  box  under  the 
statute  of  your  State  and  a  judge  upon  the  bench 
who  holds  the  scales  of  justice  unevenly,  holds 
with  guilty  hands  a  parchment  from  the  executive 
of  your  State,  and  allows  the  jury  sitting  in  the 
box  to  condemn  a  man  to  death,  under  the  aegis 
of  law,  he  does  what  all  the  law  writers  of  civili- 


GATHERING  OF  THE  HOSTS.  ->  T  <j 

O     3 

zation  for  hundreds  of  years  have  cursed  and 
damned  as  legal  murder.  Oh!  the  great  sin  of 
that  Electoral  Commission  remains  to-day  unpun 
ished,  and  will  ever  be  unavenged  so  long  as  the 
Republican  party  is  in  power  in  this  country.  I 
thank  God  that  there  is  no  statute  of  limitations 
running  in  favor  of  that  party  [applause] ;  and  in 
that  connection,  my  fellow-Democrats,  be  it  said, 
to  the  credit  of  the  Democratic  party,  that  it  ex 
hibited  none  of  that  spirit  of  the  Hotspur,  and  of 
that  spirit  which  sought  to  engulf  this  country  in 
war,  fresh  as  it  was  from  a  great  and  fratricidal 
struggle. 

"  But  our  great  leaders,  Tilden  and  Hendricks 
[here  the  speaker  was  interrupted  by  long-con 
tinued  applause,  the  delegates  rising  to  their  feet 
and  waving  their  hats] — our  great  leaders,  Tilden 
and  Hendricks,  with  the  dignity  of  heroic  states 
men,  with  the  courage  of  men  who  love  their 
country  better  than  its  pelf  and  its  power,  ac 
cepted  the  wrong  and  injury  of  perjury  and  of 
fraud;  and  they  are  grander  to-day  in  their  de 
feat  than  the  men  who  wear  the  power  at  the  ex 
pense  of  justice  and  right.  Thus  we  have  suc 
ceeded  in  the  face  of  Federal  power ;  we  would 
have  succeeded  in  1880  but  for  Federal  ofold  and 

o 

Federal  greenbacks,  fresh  and  uncut,  from  Wash 
ington — money  earned  and  held  by  Star-route 
contractors  and  the  loving  friends  of  a  venal  Ad 
ministration.  They  bought  the  Presidency. 


-  -  A  GA  THE  RING  OF  THE  HOSTS. 

O  ~   • 

"  Fellow-Democrats,  we  want  reform,  God 
knows  !  not  only  in  the  personnel  of  men  but 
also  in  the  measures  of  the  Government.  WTe 
want  men  there  whose  very  lives  and  whose  very 
names  would  be  a  platform  to  this  people ;  we 
want  men  there  who  shall,  in  all  the  departments 
of  the  Government — in  its  Department  of  Justice, 
its  postal  affairs,  its  Interior  Department,  every 
where — follow  its  servants  with  the  eye  of  the 
ministers  of  justice,  and  see  that  every  cent  that 
belongs  to  the  Government  shall  remain  with  the 
Government ;  that  no  tribute  shall  be  demanded 
except  the  tribute  that  is  due  the  Government ; 
that  no  assessments  shall  be  levied  upon  100,000 
office  holders,  who  are  paid  $  1 00,000,000  annually, 
$5,000,000  to  go  into  a  corrupt  political  fund. 
These,  we  thank  God,  will  be  corrected  when  the 
Democratic  party  shall  get  into  power  once  more. 

"We  read  the  enunciation  of  principles  by  the 
Republican  party.  They  tell  us  they  have  civil- 
service  reform,  and  yet  they  demand  in  the  next 
breath  from  every  Federal  office-holder  of  the  one 
hundred  thousand  his  tribute  to  the  corrupt  fund 
that  shall  be  paid  out  to  the  voters  at  the  polls. 
They  tell  us  they  have  a  Puritan  Government,  and 
yet  not  a  solitary  felon  has  been  condemned  in 
the  flock  of  those  who  have  stolen  their  millions 
from  the  Treasury.  Your  Springer  Committee, 
only  on  yesterday  and  the  day  before,  tells  us  of 
the  perjury,  of  the  corruption,  of  the  subornations, 


GATHERING  OF  THE  II  OS 'IS.  ^l  5 

that  run  all  along  through  the  ministers  of  justice 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  Government.  We  want 
real  reform,  a  reform,  my  countrymen,  that  shall 
mean  what  it  says  and  that  will  say  what  it 
means. 

"Fellow-citizens,  it  is  not  my  business  as  your 
presiding  officer  to-day  to  enunciate  anything 
that  shall  be  embodied  in  your  platform.  But  I 
wish  to  commend  one  thing  in  this  great  assem 
blage  of  freemen  to  your  Committee  on  Platform 
— that  you  endeavor  to  unite  upon  the  basis  of  prin 
ciples  which  we  have  advocated  for  the  years  that 
are  gone,  and  that  you  will  have  no  Delphic  oracle 
speaking  with  double  tongue  in  the  platform  which 
shall  be  named  by  you.  Let  the  Green  Mountain 
Boys  of  Vermont,  and  the  men  of  Maine,  of 
Texas,  of  Louisiana,  and  Georgia,  the  men  from 
the  Carolinas  to  the  Golden  Coast,  demand  that 
the  Committee  on  Platform  shall  say  in  our  noble 
vernacular  of  purest  English  tongue  what  they 
mean,  so  that  the  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool, 
need  not  err  in  reading  it.  In  doing  this  we  will 
declare  against  the  corruptions  of  the  Government ; 
that  is,  we  will  declare  against  the  enormities  of 
its  system  of  civil  service,  its  Department  of  so- 
called  Justice,  its  postal  service — the  robbery  in 
high  places  by  men  in  power.  It  will  say,  more 
over,  that  the  burdens  of  the  Government  shall 
be  placed  alike,  equally  and  equitably,  -upon  all 
classes  of  our  countrymen,  having  respect  for  the 


<>!  ri  GATHERING  OF  THE  HOSTS. 

o 

greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number.  That  the 
hundred  millions  of  surplus  revenue  shall  not  be 
allowed  to  accumulate  as  a  corruption  fund, 
and  that  there  shall  be  a  radical  reformation  and 
reduction  in  the  taxes  as  well  as  the  methods  of 
taxation  in  our  country. 

"But,  fellow-citizens,  in  conclusion  let  me  say 
that  harmony  and  conciliation  should  rule  your 
councils.  There  never  was  a  time  in  the  history 
of  the  Democratic  party  when  the  enemy  invites 
the  victory  as  now.  The  great  and  unnumbered 
hosts  of  dissatisfied  men  of  the  Republican  party 
are  heard  in  the  distance — in  New  England  and  in 
New  York,  on  the  lakes  and  in  the  West,  and 
everywhere  ;  and  while  the  Democratic  party 
should  not  deviate  one  iota  from  its  principles,  it 
should  with  open  arms  say  to  these  men  (hundreds 
of  thousandsGod  grant  there  maybe):  'Here  is 
the  party  of  the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  that 
loves  our  common  country.  Come  hither,  and  go 
with  us  for  honest  rule  and  honest  government.' 

"  The  Democratic  party,  while  it  may  have  its 
local  differences,  when  the  onset  of  the  charge 
comes  will  be  together ;  and  whoever  you  may 
nominate,  of  all  the  great  and  good  names  that 
are  before  you — from  the  East  to  the  West,  from 
the  North  to  the  South — he  who  stands  back  in 
the  hour  of  peril  because  his  own  State  or  himself 
shall  not  have  received  the  choice — yea,  the  choice 
of  his  heart — is  less  than  a  good  Democrat  and 


GA  TIIERING  OF  THE  HOSTS.  „  l  - 

hardly  a  patriot  in  this  our  country's  hour  of 
peril. 

"  The  Democratic  party  is  loyal  to  the  Union. 
The  '  bloody  shirt,'  in  the  vulgar  parlance  of  the 
times,  has  at  each  recurring  election  been  flaunted 
in  the  faces  of  Southern  Democrats  and  in 
your  own  faces.  With  Logan  on  the  ticket,  I  pre 
sume  it  will  be  again.  Elaine  could  hardly  afford 
it,  as  he  did  not  indulge  much  in  that  'unpleas 
antness.'  They  will  endeavor  to  stir  up  the  bad 
blood  of  the  past.  My  countrymen,  the  war  is 
over  fora  quarter  of  a  century,  and  they  know  it. 
Why,  our  boys  have  married  the  young  maidens 
of  the  North,  and  children  have  been  born  to 
them  since  those  days.  They  will  continue  to  go 
to  the  altar  and  stand  side  by  side  at  dying  beds. 
They  will  talk  of  that  bourne  whence  no  traveler 
returns,  will  lie  down  and  be  buried  together. 
Why,  the  Boys  in  the  Blue  and  the  Gray  have  slept 
together  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  upon  a  thou 
sand  fields  of  common  glory.  Let  their  bones 
alone.  They  are  representing  the  best  blood  of 
the  land,  and,  though  differing  in  the  days  that 
should  be  forgotten,  the  good  men  of  all  parties 
in  our  country  to-day,  I  thank  God,  have  united 
in  the  great  common  progress  of  our  race  to  forget 
the  war  memories  of  the  war  times. 

"I  thank  you,  fellow-citizens,  for  your  attention, 
trusting  tbat  your  forbearance  will  be  extended 
to  me.  What  mistakes  I  shall  make  doubtless 


318  GATHERING  OF  THE  HOSTS. 

you  will  treat  lightly  and  kindly.  Hoping  that 
success  may  crown  your  efforts,  that  you  may 
send  a  ticket  to  our  country  upon  whom  all  may 
unite,  is  the  wish  of  him  whom  you  have  honored 
with  your  suffrages  this  day." 

The  close  of  the  address  was  greeted  with  long- 
continued  and  loud  applause. 

The  rest  of  the  temporary  organization  having 
been  announced,  Mr.  Smalley,  of  the  National 
Committee,  offered  a  resolution  that  the  rules  of 
the  last  Democratic  Convention  shall  govern  this 
body,  except  that  in  voting  for  candidates  no  State 
shall  be  allowed  to  change  its  vote  until  the  roll 
of  the  States  had  been  called  and  until  every  State 
had  cast  its  vote,  and  thus  the  great  Convention 
proceeded  to  its  work. 


HON.  JOHN  KELLY, 
of  New  York. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BALLOTING. 

THE  first  ballot  for  the  Presidential  nominee 
began  near  midnight  on  Thursday,  the 
loth,  and  was  not  completed  till  about 
12.30  A.  M.  of  the  next  day.  This  ballot  showed 
Cleveland  to  be  within  nineteen  of  a  majority  of 
the  Convention,  and  as  a  majority  is  regarded  as 
commanding  the  necessary  two-thirds  vote  by 
Democratic  custom,  the  field  had  to  defeat  a 
second  ballot  or  surrender  to  Cleveland.  Fili 
bustering  was  resorted  to,  and  after  a  most  bois 
terous  and  ill-tempered  ballot  the  motion  to  ad 
journ  was  defeated  by  eleven  votes.  Another 
ballot  was  then  ordered,  and  general  confusion 
followed  until  another  motion  to  adjourn  to  a  later 
hour  was  got  in  and  a  call  of  the  States  demanded. 
The  roll-call  was  about  to  be^in  when  Mr.  Man- 

o 

ning,  the  Cleveland  leader,  rose  and  wisely  sec 
onded  the  motion  to  adjourn.  It  was  of  course 
carried  at  once,  and  the  battle  ended  at  i.oo  A.  M. 
There  was  an  evident  disposition  on  the  part 
of  the  field  or  anti-Cleveland  forces  to  delay  and 
prevent  a  ballot,  but  Jenkins,  of  Wisconsin,  a 
Cleveland  man,  forced  the  fight  by  moving  a  ballot 
for  President  which  resulted  as  follows : 

321 


322 


BALLOTING. 


FIRST    BALLOT. 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

Cleveland. 

H3 

rt 
>, 

M 

Randall. 

McDonald. 

Thurman. 

_>» 

*3 
§ 
K 

Carlisle. 

J4 

i 

*4 

California              

16 

6 

Florida 

8 

28 

23 

ii 

26 

13 

i 

I 

i 

6 

5 

14 

Minnesota,    

14 

Mississippi,  

i 
15 

15 

i 

I 

.   .    . 

Nebriska                                                 .   . 

8 

6 

8 

New  York     

72 

Ohio,   

2 

5 

55 

Rhode  Island  

6 

2 

8 

g 

*  ° 

ii 

i 

4 

Virginia 

8 

West  Virginia,  

7 

Wisconsin,    

12 

I 

2 

2 

i 

Dakota 

Idaho,     

2 

Utah    

2 

Washington                      

I 

Totals                    . 

78 

c6 

88 

Tilden  had  one  vote  in  Tennessee,  Flower  had  four  votes  in  Wisconsin,  and  Hendricks 
had  one  vote  in  Illinois. 


BALLOTING. 

It  was  understood  when  the  Convention  assem 
bled  on  Friday  morning  that  Randall  had  with 
drawn  from  the  contest  and  that  most  of  his 
strength  would  O-Q  to  Cleveland. 

o  o 

The  Convention  was  called  to  order  at  eleven 
o'clock,  and  prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Dr.  Clin 
ton  Locke,of  Grace  Church,  Chicago.  He  prayed 
that  the  consultations  of  the  body  be  for  the  fur 
therance  of  just  and  equal  laws,  for  the  preservation 
of  liberty,  for  the  punishment  of  wrong-doers,  and 
for  the  praise  of  those  who  do  well;  that  every 
delegate  should  be  kept  from  being  guided  by  his 
own  selfish  gain,  by  his  own  pride,  or  his  own 
likings  or  dislikings.  He  prayed  that  in  the  great 
and  noble  contest  which  was  opening  before  the 
American  people  there  would  be  a  cessation  from 
strife  and  anger;  that  men's  eyes  should  not  be 
blinded  to  that  which  is  fair  and  just;  that  all  cor 
ruption,  bribery,  and  illegal  voting  be  kept  far 
away,  and  that  after  the  election  the  whole  people 
may  join  in  their  support  of  the  President. 

A  motion  was  made  that  the  Convention  pro 
ceed  to  a  second  ballot.  Then  Mr.  Snowden,  of 
Pennsylvania,  with  thanks  to  those  who  had  voted 
for  Samuel  J.  Randall,  withdrew  that  gentleman's 
name. 

Then  came  the  balloting,  amid  great  confusion 
at  times  as  favorite  men  were  named  or  changes 
occurred  in  the  votes.  When  all  had  responded 
it  was  evident  that  Cleveland  led  the  race. 


O-' 


BALLOTING. 


SECOND   BALLOT. 


STATES  AND  TERRITORIES. 

Cleveland. 

2 

| 
s 

"d 
rt 
?^ 

ca 

Thurman. 

Hendricks. 

Randall. 

4 

5 

o 

H 

14 

14 

16 

16 

:' 

6 

12 

12 

6 

6 

B 

3 

22 

2 

24 

Illinois,  

43 

I 

44 

Indiana,  

26 

3o 
26 

17 

1 

18 

26 

16 

12 

16 

16 

8 

7/£ 

I2/1z 

28 

23 

26 

14 

14 

2 

18 

32 

9 

i 

IO 

Nevada,  

i 

5 

6 

8 

8 

ii 

18 

New  York 

72 

22 

22 

Ohio 

46 

46 

6 

6 

60 

Rhode  Island 

8 

8 

18 

24 

26 

26 

8 

8 

24 

12 

22 

Arizona,  

Idaho,  

2 

Utah 

68  ^ 
3 

8iV^ 

45^ 

4 

820 

Necessary  for  a  choice,  547. 


BALLOTING.  ~  2~ 

MADE  UNANIMOUS. 

A  motion  was  next  made  to  make  the  nomina 
tion  unanimous,  and  it  was  carried  triumphantly. 
Then  the  mammoth  oil  painting  representation  of 
Cleveland's  head  and  bust  was  carried  in  front  of 
the  speaker's  stand  and  exhibited  to  the  enthusi 
astic  spectators,  who  greeted  it  with  cheers  and 
whistling  and  the  -waving  of  everything  that  could 
be  put  into  requisition  for  that  purpose,  while  the 
band  was  playing  "  Marching  Through  Georgia," 
"The  Red,  White,  and  Blue,"  and  other  airs.  After 
order  was  restored  the  Chair  announced  that  the 
motion  to  make  the  nomination  unanimous  havino- 

?r> 

been  carried,  Grover  Cleveland  was  declared  the 
nominee  of  the  National  Democracy  for  the  next 
Presidency  of  the  United  States.  [Cheers.]  A 
dispatch  was  read  from  Governor  Hoadly,  con 
gratulating  the  Convention,  the  Democracy,  and 
the  country  on  the  wise  thing  done,  and  prom 
ising  a  Democratic  victory  in  Ohio  in  October  and 
November  next. 

The  Convention  at  1.25  took  a  recess  until  5 
p.  M.  Upon  reassembling  several  parties  were 
put  in  nomination  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  but 
one  after  the  other  the  candidates  were  with 
drawn,  until  only  Hendricks  was  left.  People 
could  not  cheer  enough.  The  call  of  the  roll 
gave  Hendricks  every  vote  in  the  Convention. 

The  scene  which  ensued  was  beyond  description. 
Almost  every  one  in  the  immense  hall  rose  to  his 


2  28  BALLOTING. 

feet  and  swung  his  hat  and  cheered.  The  standards 
of  New  York  and  Indiana  were  torn  from  their 
fastenings  and  borne  to  the  spaces  in  front  of  the 
chair.  These  were  soon  speedily  followed  by  the 
standards  of  the  other  States  until  the  whole 
thirty-eight  were  held  aloft  together.  Then  began 
a  march  about  the  hall,  delegates  falling  into  line 
with  arms  about  each  other.  The  bands  in  the 
music  gallery  were  turned  on  and  a  scene  exceed 
ing  anything  known  to  the  late  Republican  Con 
vention  was  enacted.  It  was  a  vivid  reminder  of 
the  incidents  following  the  Garfield  nomination 
four  years  ago.  As  the  procession  moved  a 
thousand  voices  with  the  band  accompaniment 
started  "Auld  Lang  Syne,"  and  other  thousands, 
with  ladies  all  over  the  hall,  took  up  the  chorus. 
New  York  and  Indiana  were  saluted  by  the  pro 
cession  of  States  as  it  went  around.  The  Cleve 
land  men  were  delighted  with  the  result  and 
showed  it.  The  Indiana  men  became  enthusiastic 
and  joined  the  enthusiastic  shouters.  The  chorus 
was  changed  from  "Auld  Lang  Syne"  to  "Sweet 
Home."  The  Convention  had  done  its  work  and 
the  people  were  glad  to  get  away. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    PLATFORM. 

OF  course  a  platform  must  be  laid  on  which 
the  party  is  to  stand  in  a  figurative  sense, 
and  from  which  the  orators  are  to  declaim 
in  favor  of  their  respective  leaders.      The  plat 
form    of  the    Democratic    Convention  was    fully 
discussed  and  finally  adopted  as  follows : 

THE    PLATFORM. 

The  Democratic  party  of  the  Union,  through  its  represen 
tatives  in  national  convention  assembled,  recognizes  that,  as 
the  nation  grows  older,  new  issues  are  born  of  time  and  pro 
gress  and  old  issues  perish.  But  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Democracy,  approved  by  the  united  voice  of  the 
people,  remain,  and  will  ever  remain,  as  the  best  and  only 
security  for  the  continuance  of  free  government.  The  pre 
servation  of  personal  rights,  the  equality  of  all  citizens  before 
the  law,  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States  and  the  supremacy 
of  thj  Federal  Government  within  the  limits  of  the  Consti 
tution,  will  ever  form  the  true  basis  of  our  liberties  and  can 
never  be  surrendered  without  destroying  that  balance  of 
rights  and  powers  which  enables  a  continent  to  be  developed 
in  peace  and  social  order  to  be  maintained  by  means  of  local 
self  government.  But  it  is  indispensable  for  the  practical 
operation  and  enforcement  of  these  fundamental  principles 
that  the  Government  should  not  always  be  controlled  by  one 
political  power.  Frequent  change  of  administration  is  as 

331 


33? 


THE  PLATFORM. 


necessary  as  constant  recurrence  to  the  popular  will.  Other 
wise  abuses  grow  and  the  Government,  instead  of  being  car 
ried  on  for  the  general  welfare,  becomes  an  instrumentality 
for  imposing  heavy  burdens  on  the  many  who  are  governed 
for  the  benefit  of  the  few  who  govern.  Public  servants  thus 
become  arbitrary  rulers. 

A    CHANGE    DEMANDED. 

This  is  now  the  condition  of  the  country,  hence  a  change 
is  demanded.  The  Republican  party,  so  far  as  principle  is 
concerned,  is  a  reminiscence.  In  practice  it  is  an  organiza 
tion  for  enriching  those  who  control  its  machinery.  The 
frauds  and  jobbery  which  have  been  brought  to  light  in  every 
department  of  the  Government  are  sufficient  to  have  called 
for  reform  within  the  Republican  party,  yet  those  in  author 
ity,  made  reckless  by  the  long  possession  of  power,  have  suc 
cumbed  to  its  corrupting  influence  and  have  placed  in 
nomination  a  ticket  against  which  the  independent  portion 
of  the  party  are  in  open  revolt. 

Therefore  a  change  is  demanded.  Such  a  change  was  alike 
necessary  in  1876,  but  the  will  of  the  people  was  then 
defeated  by  a  fraud  which  can  never  be  forgotten  nor  con 
doned.  Again  in  1880  the  change  demanded  by  the  people 
was  defeated  by  the  lavish  use  of  money  contributed  by 
unscrupulous  contractors  and  shameless  jobbers  who  had 
bargained  for  unlawful  profits  or  for  high  office. 

REPUBLICAN    FAILURES. 

The  Republican  party,  during  its  legal,  its  stolen,  and  its 
bought  tenures  of  power,  has  steadily  decayed  in  moral  char 
acter  and  political  capacity.  Its  platform  promises  are  now 
a  list  of  its  past  failures.  It  demands  the  restoration  of  our 
navy ;  it  has  squandered  hundreds  of  millions  to  create  a 
navy  that  does  not  exist.  It  calls  upon  Congress  to  remove 
the  burdens  under  which  American  shipping  has  been  de 
pressed  ;  it  imposed  and  has  continued  those  burdens.  It 
professes  the  policy  of  reserving  the  public  lands  for  small 


THE  PLATFORM.  ^-,<, 

o  o  o 

holdings  by  actual  settlers;  it  has  given  away  the  people's 
heritage  till  now  a  few  railroads  and  non-resident  aliens,  indi 
vidual  and  corporate,  possess  a  larger  area  than  that  of  all  our 
farms  between  the  two  seas.     It  professes  a  preference  for  free 
institutions ;  it  organized  and  tried  to  legalize  a  control  of 
State  elections  by  Federal  troops.     It  professes  a  desire  to 
elevate  labor ;  it  has  subjected  American  workingmen  to  the 
competition  of  convict  and  imported  contract  labor.     It  pro 
fesses  gratitude  to  all  who  were  disabled  or  died  in  the  war, 
leaving  widows  and  orphans ;  it  left  to  a  Democratic  House  of 
Representatives  the  first  effort  to  equalize  both  bounties  and 
pensions.     It  proffers  a  pledge  to  correct  the  irregularities  of 
our  tariff;  it  created  and  has  continued  them.      Its  own  Tar 
iff  Commission  confessed  the  need  of  more  than  twenty  per 
cent,  reduction  ;  its  Congress  gave  a  reduction  of  less  than 
four  per  cent.     It  professes  the  protection  of  American  man 
ufactures;  it  has  subjected  them  to  an  increasing   flood  of 
manufactured  goods  and  a  hopeless  competition  with  manu 
facturing  nations,  not  one  of  which  taxes  raw  materials.     It 
professes  to  protect  all  American  industries;  it  has  impover 
ished  many  to  subsidize  a  few.     It  professes  the  protection  of 
American  labor;  it  has  depleted    the  returns  of  American 
agriculture,  an  industry  followed  by  half  of  our  people.     It 
professes  the  equality  of  men  before  the  law ;  attempting  to 
fix  the   status  of  colored  citizens,   the  acts  of    its  Congress 
were  overset  by  the  decisions  of  its  Court.    It  "  accepts  anew 
the  duty  of  leading  in  the  work  of  progress  and  reform;"  its 
caught  criminals  are  permitted  to  escape  through  continued 
delays  or  actual  connivance  in  the  prosecution. 

Honeycombed  with  corruption,  outbreaking  exposures  no 
longer  shock  its  moral  sense.  Its  honest  members,  its  inde 
pendent  journals,  no  longer  maintain  a  successful  contest  for 
authority  in  its  counsels  or  a  veto  upon  bad  nominations. 

That  change  is  necessary  is  proved  by  an  existing  surplus 
of  more  than  one  hundred  million  dollars,  which  has  yearly 
keen  collected  from  a  suffering  people.  Unnecessary  taxa- 


334  THE  PLATFORM. 

tion  is  unjust  taxation.  We  denounce  the  Republican  party 
for  having  failed  to  relieve  the  people  from  crushing  war 
taxes,  which  have  paralyzed  business,  crippled  industry,  and 
deprived  labor  of  employment  and  of  just  reward. 

REDUCING   TAXATION. 

The  Democracy  pledges  itself  to  purify  the  Administration 
from  corruption,  to  restore  economy,  to  revive  respect  for 
law,  and  to  reduce  taxation  to  the  lowest  limit  consistent  with 
due  regard  to  the  preservation  of  the  faith  of  the  nation  to  its 
creditors  and  pensioners.  Knowing  full  well,  however,  that 
legislation  affecting  the  occupations  of  the  people  should  be 
cautious  and  conservative  in  method,  not  in  advance  of  pub 
lic  opinion,  but  responsive  to  its  demands,  the  Democratic 
party  is  pledged  to  revise  the  tariff  in  a  spirit  of  fairness  to  all 
interests.  But  in  making  reduction  in  taxes  it  is  not  pro 
posed  to  injure  any  domestic  industries,  but  rather  to  pro 
mote  their  healthy  growth.  From  the  foundation  of  this 
Government  taxes  collected  at  the  Custom  House  have  been 
the  chief  source  of  Federal  revenue  ;  such  they  must  continue 
to  be.  Moreover,  many  industries  have  come  to  rely  upon 
legislation  for  successful  continuance,  so  that  any  change  of 
law  must  be  at  every  step  regardful  of  the  labor  and  capital 
thus  involved.  The  process  of  reform  must  be  subject  in  the 
execution  to  this  plain  dictate  of  justice. 

LABOR   MUST    BE    PROTECTED. 

All  taxation  shall  be  limited  to  the  requirements  of  econo 
mical  government.  The  necessary  reduction  in  taxation  can 
and  must  be  effected  without  depriving  American  labor  of  the 
ability  to  compete  successfully  with  foreign  labor  and  without 
imposing  lower  rates  of  duty  than  will  be  ample  to  cover  any 
increased  cost  of  production  which  may  exist  in  consequence 
of  the  higher  rate  of  wages  prevailing  in  this  country.  Suffi 
cient  revenue  to  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  economically  administered,  including  pensions,  interest, 
and  principal  of  the  public  debt,  can  be  got  under  our  present 


THE  PLATFORM.  33 5 

system  of  taxation  from  Custom-House  taxes  on  fewer  im 
ported  articles,  bearing  heaviest  on  articles  of  luxury  and 
bearing  lightest  on  articles  of  necessity. 

We  therefore  denounce  the  abuses  of  the 'existing  tariff,  and 
subject  to  the  preceding  limitations  we  demand  that  Federal 
taxation  shall  be  exclusively  for  public  purposes  and  shall  not 
exceed  the  needs  of  the  Government  economically  admin 
istered. 

The  system  of  direct  taxation,  known  as  the  "  internal 
revenue,"  is  a  war  tax,  and  so  long  as  the  law  continues  the 
money  derived  therefrom  should  be  sacredly  devoted  to  the 
relief  of  the  people  from  the  remaining  burdens  of  the  war, 
and  be  made  a  fund  to  defray  the  expense  of  the  care  and 
comfort  of  worthy  soldiers  disabled  in  the  line  of  duty  in  the 
wars  of  the  Republic,  and  for  the  payment  of  such  pensions  as 
Congress  may,  from  time  to  time,  grant  to  such  soldiers,  a 
like  fund  for  the  sailors  having  been  already  provided  ;  and 
any  surplus  should  be  paid  into  the  Treasury. 

A    CONTINENTAL    POLICY. 

We  favor  an  American  continental  policy  based  upon  more 
intimate  commercial  and  political  relations  with  the  fifteen 
sister  Republics  of  North,  Central,  and  South  America,  but 
entangling  alliances  with  none. 

We  believe  in  honest  money,  the  gold  and  silver  coinage 
of  the  Constitution,  and  a  circulating  medium  convertible 
into  such  money  without  loss. 

Asserting  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  we  hold 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government,  in  its  dealings  with  the 
people,  to  mete  out  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  citizens  of 
whatever  nativity,  race,  color,  or  persuasion,  religious  or 
political. 

We  believe  in  a  free  ballot  and  a  fair  count,  and  we  recall 
to  the  memory  of  the  people  the  noble  struggle  of  the  Demo 
crats  in  the  Forty-fifth  and  Forty-sixth  Congresses,  by  which 
a  reluctant  Republican  opposition  was  compelled  to  assent  to 
legislation  making  everywhere  illegal  the  presence  of  troops 


336  THE  PLATFORM. 

at  the  polls,  as  the  conclusive  proof  that  a  Democratic  Ad 
ministration  will  preserve  liberty  with  order. 

The  selection  of  Federal  officers  for  the  Territories  should 
be  restricted  to  citizens  previously  resident  therein. 

We  oppose  sumptuary  laws  which  vex  the  citizen  and  inter 
fere  with  individual  liberty;  we  favor  honest  civil  service 
reforms  and  the  compensation  of  all  United  States  officers 
by  fixed  salaries ;  the  separation  of  Church  and  State,  and 
the  diffusion  of  free  education  by  common  schools,  so  that 
every  child  in  the  land  may  be  taught  the  rights  and  duties 
of  citizenship. 

While  we  favor  all  legislation  which  will  tend  to  the  equita 
ble  distribution  of  property,  to  the  prevention  of  monopoly 
and  to  strict  enforcement  of  individual  rights  against  cor 
porate  abuses,  we  hold  that  the  welfare  of  society  depends 
upon  a  scrupulous  regard  for  the  rights  of  property  as  defined 
by  law.  We  believe  that  labor  is  best  rewarded  where  it  is 
freest  and  most  enlightened.  It  should  therefore  be  fostered 
and  cherished.  We  favor  the  repeal  of  all  laws  restricting 
the  free  action  of  labor,  and  the  enactment  of  laws  by  which 
labor  organizations  may  be  incorporated,  and  of  all  such 
legislation  as  will  tend  to  enlighten  the  people  as  to  the  true 
relation  of  capital  and  labor. 

LAND    GRANTS. 

We  believe  that  the  public  land  ought  as  far  as  possible  to 
be  kept  as  homesteads  for  actual  settlers  ;  chat  all  unearned 
lands  heretofore  improvidently  granted  to  railroad  corpora 
tions  by  the  action  of  the  Republican  party  should  be  restored 
to  the  public  domain,  and  that  no  more  grants  of  land  shall 
be  made  to  corporations  or  to  be  allowed  to  fall  into  the 
ownership  of  alien  absentees. 

We  are  opposed  to  all  propositions  which,  upon  any  pre 
text,  would  convert  the  General  Government  into  a  machine 
for  collecting  taxes  to  be  distributed  among  the  States  or  the 
citizens  thereof. 


THE  PLATFORM. 


337 


In  reaffirming  the  declarations  of  the  Democratic  platform 
of  1856,  that  "the  liberal  principles  embodied  by  Jefferson 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  sanctioned  in  the 
Constitution,  which  make  ours  the  land  of  liberty  and  the 
asylum  of  the  oppressed  of  every  nation,  have  ever  been 
cardinal  principles  in  the  Democratic  faith,"  we  nevertheless 
do  not  sanction  the  importation  of  foreign  labor  or  the  ad 
mission  of  servile  races  unfitted  by  habits,  training,  religion 
or  kindred  for  absorption  into  the  great  body  of  our  people 
or  for  the  citizenship  which  our  laws  confer.  American 
civilization  demands  that  against  the  immigration  or  impor 
tation  of  Mongolians  to  these  shores  our  gates  be  closed. 

FOREIGN    POLICY. 

The  Democratic  party  insists  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Government  to  protect  with  equal  fidelity  and  vigilance  the 
rights  of  its  citizens,  native  and  naturalized,  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  to  the  end  that  this  protection  may  be  assured 
United  States  papers  of  naturalization  issued  by  courts  of 
competent  jurisdiction  must  be  respected  by  the  executive 
and  legislative  departments  of  our  own  Government  and  by 
all  foreign  powers.  It  is  an  imperative  duty  of  this  Govern 
ment  to  efficiently  protect  all  the  rights  of  persons  and  prop 
erty  of  every  American  citizen  in  foreign  lands,  and  demand 
and  enforce  full  reparation  for  any  invasion  thereof.  An 
American  citizen  is  only  responsible  to  his  own  Government 
for  any  act  done  in  his  own  country  or  under  her  flag,  and 
can  only  be  tried  therefor  on  her  own  soil  and  according  to 
her  laws,  and  no  power  exists  in  this  Government  to  expatriate 
an  American  citizen  to  be  tried  in  any  foreign  land  for  any 
such  act. 

This  country  has  never  had  a  well-defined  and  executed 
foreign  policy  save  under  Democratic  administration.  That 
policy  has  ever  been  in  regard  to  foreign  nations,  so  long  as 
they  do  not  act  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  country 
or  hurtful  to  otir  citizens,  to  let  them  alone ;  that  as  the  result 
of  this  policy  we  recall  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana,  Florida, 


338 


THE  PLATFORM. 


California,  and  of  the  adjacent  Mexican  territory  by  pm- 
chase  alone,  and  contrast  these  grand  acquisitions  of  Demo 
cratic  statesmanship  with  the  purchase  of  Alaska,  the  sole 
fruit  of  a  Republican  administration  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

The  Federal  Government  should  care  for  and  improve  the 
Mississippi  River  and  other  great  waterways  of  the  Republic 
so  as  to  secure  for  the  interior  States  easy  and  cheap  transpor 
tation  to  tidewater. 

AN    AMERICAN    POLICY    DEMANDED. 

Under  a  long  period  of  Democratic  rule  and  policy  our 
merchant  marine  was  fast  overtaking  and  on  the  point  of  out 
stripping  that  of  Great  Britain.  Under  twenty  years  of  Re 
publican  rule  and  policy  our  commerce  has  been  left  to  British 
bottoms  and  almost  has  the  American  flag  been  swept  off  the 
high  seas.  Instead  of  the  Republican  party's  British  policy 
we  demand  for  the  people  of  the  United  States  an  American 
policy.  Under  Democratic  rule  and  policy  our  merchants 
and  sailors,  flying  the  Stars  and  Stripes  in  every  port,  success 
fully  searched  out  a  market  for  the  varied  products  of  Ameri 
can  industry ;  under  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  Republican 
rule  and  policy,  despite  our  manifest  advantages  over  all  other 
nations  in  high  paid  labor,  favorable  climates,  and  tee-ming 
soils,  despite  freedom  of  trade  among  all  these  United  States, 
despite  their  population  by  the  foremost  races  of  men  and  an 
annual  immigration  of  the  young,  thrifty,  and  adventurous 
of  all  nations,  despite  our  freedom  here  from  the  inherited 
burdens  of  life  and  industry  in  old  world  monarchies,  their 
costfy  war  navies,  their  vast  tax-consuming,  non-producing 
standing  armies,  despite  twenty  years  of  peace,  that  Repub 
lican  rule  and  policy  have  managed  to  surrender  to  Great 
Britain  along  with  our  commerce  the  control  of  the  markets 
of  the  world. 

Instead  of  the  Republican  party's  British  policy  we  de 
mand,  in  behalf  of  the  American  Democracy,  an  American 
policy.  Instead  of  the  Republican  party's  discredited  scheme 


THE  PLATFORM. 

and  false  pretence  of  friendship  for  American  labor,  expressed 
by  imposing  taxes,  we  demand  in  behalf  of  the  Democracy, 
freedom  for  American  labor  by  reducing  taxes  to  the  end  that 
these  United  States  may  compete  with  unhindered  powers 
for  the  primacy  among  nations  in  all  the  arts  of  peace  and 
fruits  of  liberty. 

TILDEN. 

With  profound  regret  we  have  been  apprised  by  the  vener 
able  statesman  through  whose  person  was  struck  that  blow  at 
the  vital  principle  of  Republics — acquiescence  in  the  will  of 
the  majority — that  he  cannot  permit  us  again  to  place  in  his 
hands  the  Leadership  of  the  Democratic  hosts  for  the  reason 
that  the  achievement  of  reform  in  the  Administration  of  the 
Federal  Government  is  an  undertaking  now  too  heavy  for  his 
age  and  failing  strength.  Rejoicing  that  his  life  has  been 
prolonged  until  the  general  judgment  of  our  fellow-country 
men  is  united  in  the  wish  that  wrong  were  righted  in  his 
person,  for  the  Democracy  of  the  United  States  we  offer  to 
him  in  his  withdrawal  from  public  cares  not  only  our  respect 
ful  sympathy  and  esteem,  but  also  that  best  homage  of  free 
men — the  pledge  of  our  devotion  to  the  principles  and  the 
cause  now  inseparable  in  the  history  of  the  Republic  from  the 
labors  and  the  name  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 

With  this  statement  of  the  hopes,  principles,  and  purposes 
of  the  Democratic  party,  the  great  issue  of  reform  and 
change  in  administration  is  submitted  to  the  people  in  calm 
confidence  that  the  popular  voice  will  pronounce  in  favor  of 
new  men  and  new  and  more  favorable  conditions  for  the 
growth  of  industry,  the  extension  of  trade,  the  employment 
and  due  reward  of  labor  and  of  capital  and  the  general  wel 
fare  of  the  whole  country. 

After  the  above  was  presented  by  Mr.  Morrison, 
Chairman  of  the  Committe  on  Platform,  "  Ben  " 
Butler  presented  and  spoke  upon  a  minority 


340 


THE  PLATFORM. 


report  from  himself  alone.     It  was  not  accepted, 
but  the  platform  as  presented  by  the  majority  of 
the  committee  was  approved,  on  a  vote  of  714^2 
to  97^,  amid  great  applause.     Butler's  rejected 
plank  was  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  no  taxes,  direct  or  indirect,  can  be  right 
fully  imposed  upon  the  people  except  to  meet  the  expenses  of 
an  economically  administered  Government.  To  bring  taxa 
tion  down  to  this  point  is  true  administrative  revenue  reform. 
The  people  will  tolerate  direct  taxation  for  the  ordinary  ex 
penses  of  the  Government  only  in  case  of  dire  necessity  or 
war,  therefore  the  revenue  necessary  for  such  expenses  should 
be  raised  by  customs  duties  upon  imports  after  the  manner  of 
our  fathers.  In  levying  such  taxes  two  principles  should  be 
carefully  observed  :  First,  that  all  materials  used  in  the  arts 
and  manufactures  and  the  necessaries  of  life  not  produced  in 
this  country  shall  come  free,  and  that  all  articles  of  luxury 
should  be  taxed  as  high  as  possible  up  to  the  collection  point ; 
second,  that  in  imposing  customs  duties  the  law  must  be  care 
fully  adjusted  to  promote  American  enterprise  and  industries, 
not  to  create  monopolies,  and  to  cherish  and  foster  American 
labor. 


PRINCIPLES 


OF  THE 


DEMOCRATIC  PARTY, 


PRINCIPLES 

OF  THE 


DEMOCRATIC  PARTY, 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    WASHINGTON. 

WASHINGTON  lived  before  the  days 
of  party  politics.  He  exemplified  his 
principles  by  his  conduct,  whether  at 
the  head  of  the  army  or  of  the  civil  Administra 
tion.  He  had  studied  well  the  principles  of  free 
governments  in  former  ages  and  was  well 
grounded  in  the  faith.  In  his  Farewell  Address  to 
the  American  people  he  left  a  legacy  any  party 
might  well  be  proud  of.  Not  because  he  was  at 
the  head  of  a  so-called  Democratic  or  Republican 
or  any  party,  but  because  the  few  fundamental 
principles  upon  which  rested  the  perpetuity  of  the 
Union  which  he  announced  have  always  been  a 
part  of  the  faith  of  the  Democracy,  does  it  be 
come  appropriate  here  to  insert  those  principles. 
No  person  can  be  a  sound  Democrat  who  cannot 
give  unqualified  assent  to  them.  In  substance  he 
announced  the  following  principles  : 

343 


344  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

"  The  union  of  the  government  is  the  main 
pillar  in  the  edifice  of  our  real  independence: 
the  support  of  our  tranquillity  at  home,  our  peace 
abroad ;  of  our  safety  and  our  prosperity,  yea,  of 
the  very  liberty  all  so  highly  prize." 

He  warned  his  countrymen  that  from  different 
causes  and  from  different  quarters  great  pains 
would  be  taken  (as  was  the  case  three-quarters 
of  a  century  after  that),  and  many  artifices  would 
be  employed  to  weaken  in  the  minds  of  the 
people  the  conviction  of  this  great  truth.  He 
told  them  that  this  was  a  point  in  their  political 
fortress  against  which  the  batteries  of  internal  and 

o 

external  enemies  would  most  constantly  and  most 
actively,  though  covertly  and  insidiously,  direct 
their  assaults. 

He  entreated  them  to  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual, 
and  immovable  attachment  to  the  Union,  accus 
toming  them  to  think  and  speak  of  it  as  the  pal 
ladium  of  their  political  safety  and  prosperity, 
watching  for  its  preservation  with  jealous  anxiety, 
discountenancing  whatever  might  even  suggest  a 
suspicion  that  it  could  in  any  event  be  abandoned, 
and  indignantly  frown  upon  the  first  dawning  of 
every  attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of  our  coun 
trymen  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred 
ties  which  link  together  the  various  parts  of  our 
common  country. 

Whether  he  called  himself  a  Democrat  or  not 
makes  no  difference,  this  principle  of  cherishing 


DEMOCRA  TIC  PRINCIPLES.  *  ,  r 

o45 

an  absolute  devotion  to  the  existence  of  the  Union 
under  one  form  of  government  is  a  sacred  Demo 
cratic  principle  that  must  be  subscribed  to  by 
every  citizen  of  this  great  Republic  who  aspires 
to  be  called  an  American  Democrat.  It  is  be 
cause  Democrats  have  ever  entertained  the  same 
convictions  and  (save  by  the  men  who  called 
themselves  Democrats,  but  had  forgotten  or  dis 
regarded  the  warning  voice  of  Washington,  and 
went  into  a  rebellion  against  the  Government, 
thereby  seeking  to  destroy  the  Union)  have  ever 
been  true  to  these  principles,  and  above  all  other 
parties  most  profoundly  impressed  with  the  truth 
of  this  doctrine,  that  many  of  the  most  thought 
ful  men  have  ever  been  Democrats. 

Washington  sought  by  most  cogent  arguments 
to  impress  upon  his  countrymen  that  all  parts  of 
the  country,  North,  South,  East,  and  West,  had  a 
common  destiny  and  a  common  interest  in  the 
general  welfare  of  every  other  section,  and  be 
cause  each  added  strength  and  security  to  the 
other,  and  in  this  sense  the  Union  was  the  main 
prop  of  our  liberties,  so  that  the  love  for  one 
should  endear  to  the  people  the  preservation  of 
the  other,  and  thus  become  the  primary  object  of 
patriotic  desire. 

Democrats  believe  all  this;  and  though  the  party 
itself  became  distracted  and  many  of  its  adher 
ents  were  dragged  into  a  rebellion,  still,  so  soon 
as  military  force  was  overcome  and  the  conviction 


346  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

of  the  mind  could  be  freely  exercised,  even  those 
again  became  as  ardently  attached  to  the  Union 
as  any  other  portion  of  our  people,  and  since  the 
close  of  the  war  have  sought,  by  every  means 
within  their  power,  to  bring  together  and  bind 
more  closely  the  whole  people  of  this  Union  in 
the  bonds  of  a  fraternal  brotherhood  of  States. 

Washington  warned  his  countrymen  against  sec 
tionalism.  He  cautioned  them  that  designing 
men,  as  they  ever  have,  would  endeavor  to  excite 
a  belief  that  there  was  a  real  difference  of  local 
interests  and  views.  He  said  one  of  the  expedi 
ents  of  partyisms  would  be  to  acquire  influence 
in  one  particular  section  by  misrepresenting  the 
opinions  and  aims  of  another  section,  and  that 
they  could  not  shield  themselves  too  much  against 
the  jealousies  and  heart-burnings  aroused  by 
these  misrepresentations,  tending  to  alienate  the 
sections  from  each  other  instead  of  binding  them 

& 

more  closely  together  with  fraternal  regard  and 
affection,  bringing  about  the  opposite  result.  It 
is  because  we  have  seen  the  Democratic  party  en 
deavoring  by  every  possible  means  in  its  power 
to  inculcate  these  same  great  truths,  while  its  op 
ponents  have  conducted  themselves  toward  one 
section  precisely  in  the  way  and  manner  suggested 
by  Washington  men  would,  that  they  are  forced 
to  be  Democrats  when  true  to  their  convictions 
of  right.  , 

He  cautioned  his   countrymen  against  heaping 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES.  -*- 

up  public  debts  for  posterity  to  pay,  thus  ungen 
erously  throwing  upon  them  burdens  which  we 
ourselves  should  pay.  This  whole  business  of 
bonded  indebtedness  is  undemocratic  and  ought 
net  to  be  indulged  in  if  by  any  means  it  can  be 
avoided.  It  is  true  that  men  calling  themselves 
Democrats  have  been  led  astray  by  the  plausible 
arguments  of  those  who  regarded  "public  debts 
as  public  blessings,"  still  the  Democratic  party,  as 
such,  has  ever  denounced  the  practice,  and  be 
cause  they  have  always  coincided  with  him  in  this 
particular  they  are  Democrats. 

Against  the  insidious  wiles  of  foreign  influence, 
he  conjured  his  fellow-citizens,  their  jealousy 
ought  to  be  constantly  awake.  Numerous  oppor 
tunities  would  be  offered,  he  said,  to  tamper  with 
domestic  factions,  to  practice  the  arts  of  seduction, 
to  mislead  public  opinion,  to  influence  public  coun 
cils. 

No  attachment,  therefore,  for  one  nation  to  the 
exclusion  of  another  should  be  tolerated. 

Such  conduct  would  lead  to  concessions  to  one 
nation  and  denials  of  privileges  to  others,  and 
would  invite  a  multitude  of  evils  upon  us. 

it  is  because  this  has  been  a  fundamental  prin 
ciple  of  the  Democratic  party,  who  most  heartily 
believe  in  the  doctrine,  hence  they  are  Democrats. 

Washington  also  advised  his  countrymen  to  re 
sist  with  care  the  spirit  of  innovation  upon  the 
principles  on  which  the  Government  was  founded, 


343 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 


however  specious  the  pretext  might  be.  One 
method  of  assault  would  be,  he  said,  to  effect 
under  the  forms  of  the  Constitution  alterations 
which  would  impair  the  whole  system.  It  is  be 
cause  the  Democratic  party,  impressed  by  the 
truth  of  these  teachings  of  Washington,  has  op 
posed  the  numerous  amendments  constantly  being 
proposed  that  they  are  Democrats,  believing  that 
in  this  they  adhere  more  strictly  to  the  teachings 
of  Washington  than  any  other  party. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE     PRINCIPLES    OF   JEFFERSON. 

ALTHOUGH    in    his    time    not   called    "a 
Democrat,"   yet   the  leader  of  what  was 
then  known  as  the  Republican  party,  con 
tending  against  the   Federal,  or  strong  govern 
ment  party,  Thomas  Jefferson  was  perhaps  one 
of  the  best  expounders  of  those  principles  now 
held  by  the  Democratic  party  among  all  of  those 
Revolutionary  sages. 

In  his  writings  and  official  messages  as  Presi- 

o  O 

dent  we  find  the  most  frequent  allusions  to  and 
rigid  application  of  them  in  the  administration  of 
public  affairs,  so  that  he  has  been  called  "  the 
father  of  the  Democratic  party."  It  was  pecu- 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

liarly  appropriate  that  he  should  do  so,  because, 
though  early  in  the  history  of  our  Government 
yet,  anti-democratic  principles  were  already  slowly 
creeping  into  the  administration  of  public  affairs 
under  the  Administration  of  the  elder  Adams,  so 
that  it  required  vigorous  opposition  and  deter 
mined  application  to  bring  the  Government  back 
once  more  to  be  administered  in  accordance  with 
those  pure  principles  of  a  representative  demo 
cratic  government. 

In  his  inaugural  address,  delivered  to  Congress 
on.  March  4th,  1801,  the  commencement  as  well 
of  a  new  century  as  of  a  new  era  in  our  govern 
ment,  President  Jefferson  announced  the  follow 
ing  fundamental  doctrines  of  democracy,  which, 
he  said,  he  deemed  essential  principles  of  our 
Government,  which  should  guide  him  in  its  admin 
istration.  He  compressed  them  within  the 
smallest  possible  compass,  stating  only  the  gen 
eral  principles,  but  not  all  their  limitations : 

First.  Equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men  of  what 
ever  State  or  persuasion,  religious  or  political. 

Second.  Peace,  commerce,  and  honest  friend 
ship  with  all  nations;  entangling  alliance  with 
none. 

Third.  The  support  of  the  State  govern 
ments  in  all  their  rights  as  the  most  competent 
administrators  of  our  domestic  concerns  and  the 
surest  bulwarks  against  anti-republican  tenden 
cies. 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

Fourth.  The  preservation  of  the  General  Gov 
ernment  in  its  whole  constitutional  vigor  as  the 
sheet  anchor  of  our  peace  at  home  and  safety 
abroad. 

Fifth.  A  jealous  care  of  the  right  of  election 
by  the  people,  a  mild  and  safe  corrective  of 
abuses,  which  are  lopped  by  the  sword  of  revolu 
tion  where  peaceable  means  are  unprovided. 

Sixth.  Absolute  acquiescence  in  the  decisions 
of  the  majority,  the  vital  principles  of  republics, 
from  which  is  no  appeal  but  to  force,  the  vital 
principle  and  immediate  parent  of  despotism. 

Seventh.  A  well-disciplined  militia,  our  best 
reliance  in  peace,  and  for  the  first  moments  of 
war,  till  regulars  may  relieve  them. 

Eighth.  The  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the 
military  authority. 

Ninth.  Economy  in  the  public  expenses,  that 
labor  may  be  lightly  burdened. 

Tenth.  The  honest  payment  of  our  debts  and 
the  sacred  preservation  of  the  public  faith. 

Eleventh.  Encouragement  of  agriculture  and 
of  commerce  as  its  handmaid. 

Twelfth.  The  diffusion  of  information  and 
arraignment  of  all  abuses  at  the  bar  of  public 
reason. 

Thirteenth.  Freedom  of  religion. 

Fourteenth.  Freedom  of  the  press. 

Fifteenth.  Freedom  of  the  person  under  the 
protection  of  the  habeas  corpus. 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES.  351 

Sixteenth.  Trial   by  juries  impartially  selected. 

"  These  principles,"  said  Jefferson,  "  form  the 
bright  constellation  which  has  gone  before  us  and 
guided  our  steps  through  the  age  of  revolution 
and  reformation.  The  wisdom  of  our  sages  and 
the  blood  of  our  heroes  have  been  devoted  to 
their  attainment.  They  should  be  the  creed  of 
our  political  faith,  the  text  of  civic  instruction, 
the  touchstone  by  which  to  try  the  services  of 
those  we  trust ;  and  should  we  wander  from  them 
in  moments  of  error  or  alarm,  let  us  hasten  to 
retrace  our  steps  and  to  regain  the  road  which 
alone  leads  to  peace,  liberty,  and  safety." 

It  is  because  Democrats  believe  every  one  of 
those  fundamental  principles  to  be  true  that  they 
are  Democrats. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    MADISON. 

DEMOCRATS  believe  in  a  full,  unequivocal, 
and  hearty  support  of  the  Constitution,  in 
a  strict  construction  of  it,  and  in  the  spirit 
and  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  formed,  and  in 
Madison,  also,  who  took  such  a  deep  interest  in 
its  formation  as  to  be  called  "the  father  of  the 
Constitution,"  they  have  another  exponent  of  sound 
Democratic  principles. 


352  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

He  knew  well  the  principles  on  which  that  Con 
stitution  was  founded.  He  had  studied  the  rise, 
progress,  decay,  and  fall,  of  every  free  govern 
ment  which  had  gone  before,  and,  profiting  by  the 
very  misfortunes  of  other  nations,  he  had  secured 
in  the  adoption  of  our  Constitution  such  principles 
as  he  fondly  believed  would  prevent  us  as  a  people 
from  falling  into  similar  errors.  Standing  upon 
the  threshold  of  his  great  office  as  President  of 
the  United  States,  succeeding  Jefferson,  he  an 
nounced  the  following  as  additional  principles 
vital  to  the  welfare  of  the  American  people  in 
their  intercourse  with  foreign  nations.  They  were 
in  part  but  the  echoes  which  came  from  the  lips 
of  Washington  and  Jefferson  and  became  the 
policy  of  the  Democratic  party  ever  since.  He 
announced  them  as  follows: 

First.  To  cherish  peace  and  friendly  intercourse 
with  all  nations  having  a  corresponding  disposi 
tion. 

Second.  To  maintain  sincere  neutrality  toward 
belligerent  nations. 

o 

Third.  To  prefer  in  all  cases  amicable  discus 
sions  and  reasonable  accommodation  of  differences 
to  a  decision  of  them  by  an  appeal  to  arms. 

Fourth.  To  exclude  foreign  intrigues  and  for 
eign  partialities,  so  degrading  to  all  countries  and 
so  baneful  to  free  ones. 

Fifth.  To  foster  a  spirit  of  independence,  too 
just  to  invade  the  rights  of  others,  too  proud  to 


DEM  OCR  A  TIC  PRINCIPLES. 


353 


surrender  our  own,  too  liberal  to  indulge  unwor 
thy  prejudices  ourselves,  and  too  elevated  not  to 
look  down  upon  them  in  others. 

Sixth.  To  hold  the  Union  of  the  States  as  the 
basis  of  their  peace  and  happiness. 

Seventh.  To  support  the  Constitution,  which  is 
the  cement  of  the  Union,  as  well  in  its  limitations 
as  in  its  authorities. 

Eighth.  To  respect  the  rights  and  authorities 
reserved  to  the  States  and  the  people  as  equally 
incorporated  with  and  essential  to  the  success  of 
the  general  system. 

Ninth.  To  avoid  the  slightest  interferences  with 
the  rights  of  conscience  or  the  functions  of  reli 
gion,  so  wisely  exempted  from  civil  jurisdiction. 

Tenth.  To  preserve  in  their  full  energy  the 
salutary  provisions  in  behalf  of  private  and  per 
sonal  rights  and  the  freedom  of  the  press. 

Eleventh.  To  observe  economy  in  public  ex 
penditures. 

Twelfth.  To  liberate  public  resources  by  an 
honorable  discharge  of  the  public  debts. 

Thirteenth.  To  keep  within  the  requisite  limits 
a  standing  military  force,  always  remembering 
that  an  armed  and  trained  militia  is  the  firmest 
bulwark  of  republics. 

Fourteenth.  That  without  standing  armies,  their 
liberties  can  never  be  in  danger,  nor  with  large 
ones,  safe. 

Fifteenth.  To  promote,   by  authorized   means, 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

improvements  friendly  to  agriculture,  to  commerce 
to  manufactures,  and  to  external  as  well  as  inter 
nal  commerce. 

Sixteenth.  To  favor,  in  like  manner,  the  ad 
vancement  of  science  and  diffusion  of  information 
as  the  best  aliment  of  true  liberty. 

Seventeenth.  To  carry  on  benevolent  plans  for 
the  conversion  of  our  aboriginal  neighbors  from 
the  degradation  and  wretchedness  of  savage  life 
to  a  participation  of  the  improvements  of  which 
the  human  mind  and  manners  are  susceptible  in 
a  civilized  state. 

In  one  of  his  messages  he  also  laid  down  the 
principle  that  a  well-instructed  people  alone  can 
be  permanently  free,  all  of  which  Democrats  de 
voutly  believe. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   JACKSON. 

IN  the  principles  of  Andrew  Jackson  the   De 
mocracy  take  great  pride.     From  his  inaugu 
ral  address,  on  March  4th,  A.  D.  1829,  to  the 
close  of  his  Administration  of  eight  years,  in  every 
message  to  Congress  he  uttered  Democratic  sen 
timents  in   a  terse,  vigorous    style,  which,  on  ac 
count  of  their    self-evident   truth,  deeply   rooted 
themselves  in  American  hearts  and  became  the 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

principles  of  the  Democratic  party,  which  during 
his  Administration  first  took  that  name  and  which 
it  has  held  ever  since.  They  are  found  scattered 
all  through  his  messages,  and  were  his  guide  in 
deciding  all  questions  of  national  policy,  so  many 
of  which  pressed  themselves  upon  him  during  his 
term  of  office.  From  these  the  following  may  be 
selected  and  placed  in  order,  which  should  be 
thoroughly  studied  and  applied  to  all  questions 
which  may  even  now  arise. 

First,  He  said:  "Regard  should  be  had  for  the 
rights  of  the  several  States,  taking  care  not  to 
confound  the  powers  reserved  to  them  with  those 
they  had  in  the  Constitution  granted  to  the  Gen 
eral  Government. 

Second.  In  every  aspect  of  the  case  advan 
tage  must  result  from  strict  and  faithful  economy 
in  the  administration  of  public  affairs. 

Third.  He  declared  the  unnecessary  duration 
of  the  public  debt  incompatible  with  real  inde 
pendence. 

Fourth.  In  the  adjustment  of  a  tariff  for  reve 
nue,  he  insisted  that  a  spirit  of  equity,  caution,  and 
compromise  requires  the  great  interests  of  agri 
culture,  manufactures,  and  commerce  to  be  equally 
favored. 

Fifth.  He  admitted  the  policy  of  internal  im 
provements  to  be  wise  only  in  so  far  as  they  could 
be  promoted  by  constitutional  acts  of  the  General 
Government. 


*  -  5  DEMOCRA  TIC  PRINCIPLES. 

Sixth.  He  declared  standing  armies  to  be  dan 
gerous  to  free  government,  and  that  the  military 
should  be  in  strict  subordination  to  the  civil  power, 

Seventh.  He  declared  the  national  militia  to 
be  the  bulwark  of  our  national  defense.  In  en 
forcing  this  principle,  he  declared  that  so  long  as 
the  Government  was  administered  for  the  good  of 
the  people  and  regulated  by  their  will;  so  long  as 
it  secured  to  the  people  the  rights  of  person  and 
of  property,  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  the  press, 
the  Government  would  be  worth  defending,  and 
so  long  as  it  was  worth  defending  the  patriotic 
militia  would  cover  it  with  an  impenetrable  agis. 

Eighth.  He  pledged  himself  to  the  work  of 
reform  in  the  Administration,  so  that  the  patronage 
of  the  General  Government,  which  had  been 
brought  into  conflict  with  the  freedom  of  elections 
and  had  disturbed  the  rightful  course  of  appoint 
ments  by  continuing  in  power  unfaithful  and  in 
competent  public  servants,  should  no  longer  be 
used  for  that  purpose. 

Ninth.  He  declared  his  belief  in  the  principle 
that  the  integrity  and  zeal  of  public  officers  would 
advance  the  interests  of  the  public  service  more 
than  mere  numbers. 

Tenth.  He  declared  the  right  of  the  people  to 
elect  a  President,  and  that  it  was  never  designed 
that  their  choice  should  in  any  case  be  defeated 
by  the  intervention  of  agents,  enforcing  this 
principle  by  saying,  what  experience  had  amply 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

proved,  that  in  proportion  as  agents  were  multi 
plied  to  execute  the  will  of  the  people,  there  was 
the  danger  increased  that  their  wishes  would 
be  frustrated.  Some  may  be  unfaithful — all  liable 
to  err.  So  far,  then,  as  the  people  were  con 
cerned  it  was  better  for  them  to  express  their  own 
will. 

Eleventh.  The  majority  should  govern.  No 
President  elected  by  a  minority  could  so  success 
fully  discharge  his  duties  as  he  who  knew  he  was 
supported  by  the  majority  of  the  people. 

Twelfth.  He  advocated  rotation  in  office.  Cor 
ruption,  he  said,  would  spring  up  among  those  in 
power,  and  therefore  he  thought  appointments 
should  not  be  made  for  a  longer  period  than  four 
years.  Everybody  had  equal  right  to  office,  and 
he  favored  removals  as  a  leading  principle  which 
would  give  healthful  action  to  the  political  system. 
Thirteenth.  He  advocated  unfettered  com 
merce,  free  from  restrictive  tariff  laws,  leaving  it 
to  flow  into  those  natural  channels  in  which  indi 
vidual  enterprise,  always  the  surest  and  safest 
guide,  might  direct  it. 

Fourteenth.  He  opposed  specific  tariffs,  be 
cause  subject  to  frequent  changes,  generally  pro 
duced  by  selfish  motives,  and  under  such  influ 
ences  could  never  be  just  and  equal. 

Fifteenth.  The  proper  fostering  of  manufac 
tures  and  commerce  tended  to  increase  the  value 
of  agricultural  products. 


358  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

Sixteenth.  In  cases  of  real  doubt  as  to  matters 
of  mere  public  policy  he  advocated  a  direct  ap 
peal  to  the  people,  the  source  of  all  power,  as  the 
most  sacred  of  all  obligations  and  the  wisest  and 
most  safe  course  to  pursue. 

Seventeenth.  He  advocated  a  just  and  equita 
ble  bankrupt  law  as  beneficial  to  the  country  at 
large,  because  after  the  means  to  discharge  debts 
had  entirely  been  exhausted,  not  to  discharge 
them  only  served  to  dispirit  the  debtor,  sink  him 
into  a  state  of  apathy,  make  him  a  useless  drone 
in  society,  or  a  vicious  member  of  it,  if  not  a  feel 
ing  witness  of  the  rigor  and  inhumanity  of  his 
country.  Oppressive  debt  being  the  bane  of  en 
terprise  it  should  be  the  care  of  the  Republic  not 
to  exert  a  grinding  power  over  misfortune  and 
poverty. 

Eighteenth.  He  declared  in  favor  of  the  prin 
ciple  that  no  money  should  be  expended  until  first 
appropriated  for  the  purpose  by  the  Legislature. 
The  people  paid  the  taxes,  and  their  direct  repre 
sentatives  should  alone  have  the  right  to  say  what 
they  should  be  taxed  for,  in  what  sums,  and  how 
and  when  it  should  be  paid. 

Nineteenth.  He  utterly  opposed  the  system  of 
Government  aiding  private  corporations  in  mak 
ing  internal  improvements.  It  was  deceptive  and 
conducive  of  improvidence  in  the  expenditure  of 
public  moneys.  For  this  purpose  appropriations 
could  be  obtained  with  greater  facilities,  granted 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 


159 


with  inadequate  security,  and  frequently  compli 
cated  the  administration  of  Government. 

Twentieth.  The  operations  of  the  General  Gov 
ernment  should  be  strictly  confined  to  the  few 
simple  but  important  objects  for  which  it  was  origi 
nally  designed. 

'1  iv en ty- fir st.  He  favored  the  veto  power  in  the 
Executive,  but  only  to  be  exercised  in  cases  of  at 
tempted  violation  of  the  Constitution,  or  in  cases 
next  to  it  in  importance. 

Twenty-second.  He  advocated  State  rights  as 
far  as  consistent  with  the  rightful  action  of  the 

O 

General  Government  as  the  very  best  means  of 
preserving  harmony  between  them ;  and  pro 
nounced  this  the  true  faith,  and  the  one  to  which 
might  be  mainly  attributed  the  success  of  the  en 
tire  system,  and  to  which  alone  we  must  look  for 
stability  in  it. 

'twenty-third.  He  advocated  "a  uniform  and 
sound  currency,"  but  doubted  the  constitutionality 
and  expediency  of  a  National  Bank;  and  after 
wards  made  his  Administration  famous  by  suc 
cessfully  opposing  the  renewal  of  its  charter. 

Twenty-fourth.  Precious  metals  as  the  only  cur 
rency  known  to  the  Constitution.  Their  peculiar 
properties  rendered  them  the  standard  of  values 
in  other  countries,  and  had  been  adopted  in  this. 
The  experience  of  the  evils  of  paper  money  had 
made  it  so  obnoxious  in  the  past  that  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution  had  forbidden  its  adoption  as 
the  legal -tedder  currency  of  the  country. 


•?5o  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

\J 

Variableness  must  ever  be  the  characteristic  of 
a  currency  not  based  upon  those  metals.  Expan 
sion  and  contraction,  without  regard  to  principles 
which  regulate  the  value  of  those  metals  as  a 

o 

standard  in  the  general  trade  of  the  world,  were, 
he  said,  extremely  pernicious. 

Where  these  properties  are  not  infused  into  the 
circulation,  and  do  not  control  it,  prices  must  vary 
according  to  the  tide  of  the  issue;  the  value  and 
stability  of  property  exposed,  uncertainty  attend 
the  administration  of  institutions  constantly  liable 
to  temptations  of  an  interest  distinct  from  that  of 
the  community  at  large,  all  this  attended  by  loss 
to  the  laboring  class,  who  have  neither  time  nor 
opportunity  to  watch  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the 
money  market. 

Twenty-fifth.  He  renews  his  advocacy  of  a 
cheerful  compliance  with  the  will  of  the  majority; 
and  the  exercise  of  the  power  as  expressed  in  a 
spirit  of  moderation,  justice  and  brotherly  kind 
ness  as  the  best  means  to  cement  and  forever  pre 
serve  the  Union.  Those,  he  closes,  who  advocate 
sentiments  adverse  to  those  expressed,  however 
honest,  are,  in  effect,  the  worst  enemies  of  their 
country. 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES,  ^j. 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  PRINCIPLE    OF    STATE  RIGHTS. 

THE  rights  of  the  States  under  our  Federal 
Constitution  has  long  been  a  question 
discussed  on  which  great  differences  of 
opinion  have  arisen,  even  within  the  Democratic 
party  itself.  The  view  held  by  Andrew  Jackson 
is  the  one  always  prevailing  in  National  Conven 
tions,  the  only  body  having  power  to  settle  the 
question  for  the  whole  party,  viz. :  that  the  Gen 
eral  Government  is  one  of  expressly  granted 
powers,  in  the  exercise  of  which  it  is  supreme  ; 
that  these  powers,  faithfully  and  vigorously  carried 
out,  are  necessary  to  the  general  welfare  of  the 
whole ;  that  all  powers  not  expressly  granted  in 
the  Constitution  to  the  Federal  Government,  in 
the  language  of  that  instrument  itself,  are  re 
served  to  the  States  and  to  the  people. 

The  Republican  party  at  the  time  of  its  organi 
zation  planted  itself  on  this  doctrine;  and  in  their 
platform  at  Chicago,  when  Abraham  Lincoln  was 
first  nominated  for  President,  they  passed  the 
following  resolution : 

o 

"Fourth.  That  the  maintenance  inviolate  of 
the  rights  of  the  States,  and  especially  the  right 
of  each  State  to  order  and  control  its  own 
domestic  institutions  according  to  its  own  judg- 


^ 52  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

merit  exclusively,  is  essential  to  that  balance  of 
power  on  which  the  perfection  and  endurance  of 
our  political  fabric  depends ;  and  we  denounce 
the  lawless  invasion  by  armed  force  of  the  soil  of 
any  State  or  Territory,  no  matter  under  what 
pretext,  as  one  of  the  gravest  of  crimes." 

So  thoroughly  had  this  constitutional  doctrine 
engrafted  itself  upon  the  public  mind,  found 
utterance  in  both  of  the  great  political  parties  and 
in  their  platforms,  that  it  ought  to  have  been 
acquiesced  in  by  all. 

The  National  Democratic  party  still  adheres  to 
that  idea.  It  is  unalterably  fixed  in  its  creed; 
but  it  has  not  appeared  in  the  Republican  party 
platform  from  that  time  down  to  the  present, 
while  the  Democracy  have  reaffirmed  the  same 
upon  every  occasion.  Ever  since  the  days  of 
Jackson's  Administration  has  the  question,  in  the 
Democratic  party,  of  the  right  of  secession 
been  settled,  so  far  as  the  power  of  a  National 
party  Convention  could  settle  it.  No  matter  what 
individual  members  of  the  party  may  have  said, 
no  matter  what  State  and  District  Conventions 
may  have  declared  on  the  subject,  the  National 
Convention  only  of  a  national  party  can  settle 
national  questions ;  and,  therefore,  "  no  matter 
how  frothy  orators  may  fret  and  fume  and  tear 
passion  into  tatters  "  over  a  "  Secession  Democ 
racy,"  the  record  proves  that  it  never  was  the 
doctrine  of  the  National  Democratic  party. 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 


The  Republican  party  has  frequently  announced 
with  a  great  flourish  of  trumpets  that  our  Gov 
ernment  was  not  a  league,  but  a  nation  ;  but  no 
true  Jackson  Democrat  ever  disputed  that  propo^ 
sition  as  he  understood  its  terms.  Jackson,  in 
his  immortal  proclamation,  said  : 

"The  Constitution  of  the  United   States,  then, 

forms  a  Government,  not  a  league  ;  whether  it  be 

formed  by  compact  between  the   States  or  other 

wise,  or  in  any  other  manner,  its  character  is  the 

same.     It  is  a  Government  in  which  the  people  are 

represented,  which  operates  directly  on  the  people 

individually,  not  upon  the  State  ;  they  retain  all  the 

power  they  did  not  grant.     But  each  State  hav 

ing  expressly  parted  with  so  many   powers  as  to 

constitute,  jointly  with   the   other  States,  a  single 

nation,  cannot  from  that  period  possess  any  right 

to  ,ec°clo,  because  such  secession  does  not  break  a 

league,  but  destroys  the  unity  of  the  nation  ;   and 

any  injury  to  that  unity  is  not  only  a  breach  which 

would  result   from   the  contravention  of    a   com 

pact,  but  it  is  an  offense  against  the  whole  Union. 

To  say  that  any   State    may  at  pleasure   secede 

from  the  Union  is  to  say  that  the   United  States 

is  not  a  nation  ;   because  it  would   be  a   solecism 

to  contend  that  any  part  of  a  nation  might  dis 

solve  its  connection  with  the  other  part,  to  their 

injury  and  ruin,   without  committing  any  offense. 

Secession,  like  any  other   revolutionary  act,  may 

be  morally  justified  by  the    extremity  of  oppres- 


,,54  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

sion  ;  but  to  call  it  a  constitutional  right  is  con 
founding  the  meaning  of  terms,  and  can  only  be 
clone  through. gross  error  or  to  deceive  those  who 
are  willing  to  assert  a  right,  but  would  pause  be 
fore  they  made  a  revolution  or  incur  the  penalties 
consequent  on  a  failure."  Herein  is  set  forth  in 
the  plainest  terms  the  principles  adhered  to  by 
the  great  Democratic  party  of  the  country  ;  and 
to  charge  the  party  with  the  errors,  mistakes, 
and  crimes  of  those  who  disregarded  the  teach 
ings  of  their  party  is  so  grossly  unjust  that  it 
needs  no  further  refutation.  It  is  because  the 
Democracy  have  through  all  the  past,  through 
years  of  sectional  madness  and  party  strife,  ad 
hered  in  conscious  integrity  to  those  views  that 
they  have  been  denounced  by  enraged  sectional- 
ists  North  and  South,  until  reason  has  been  again 
enthroned,  and  the  nation  can  see  where  they 
have  stood  all  these  years. 

They  constitute  the  only  party  which  has  a 
record  upon  this  question,  dating  from  its  first 
inception  to  the  present  moment.  Democrats  op 
posed  the  New  England  secessionists  who  held 
the  Hartford  Convention  in  the  interest  of  North 
ern  nullification  and  secession.  They  opposed 
the  South  Carolina  nullifiers  at  a  later  date,  and 
have,  as  a  great  national  organization,  opposed 
the  doctrine  at  all  times,  under  all  circumstances, 
and  against  all  persons,  no  matter  whether  they 
claimed  to  be  Democrats  or  not.  But  it  may  be 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

said  that  when  the  Rebellion  was  first  organized 
a  Democratic  Administration  did  not  do  its  duty 
to  suppress  it.  President  Buchanan,  elected  by 
Southern  votes  as  well  as  Northern,  denied  the 
right  of  secession.  He  was  a  representative 
Democrat,  and  he  said  in  his  message  of  De 
cember,  1860:  "This  Government  is  a  great  and 
powerful  Government  invested  with  all  the  at- 
tributes  of  sovereignty  over  the  subjects  to  which 
its  authority  extends.  Its  framers  never  intended 
to  plant  in  its  bosom  the  seeds  of  its  own  destruc 
tion,  nor  were  they  guilty  of  the  absurdity  of  pro 
viding  for  its  own  dissolution.  It  was  not  in 
tended  by  its  framers  to  be  the  baseless  fabric  of 
a  vision  which  at  the  touch  of  the  enchanter 
would  vanish  in  thin  air,  but  a  substantial  and 
mighty  fabric  capable  of  resisting  the  slow  decay 
of  time  and  defying  the  storms  of  ages.  *  *  * 
In  short,  let  us  look  the  danger  fully  in  the  face ; 
secession  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  revolution." 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  at  no  time,  even  the 
most  critical,  have  true  National  Democrats, 
either  in  National  Conventions  or  by  their  Chief 
Executives,  ever  countenanced  this  heresy  of 
secession.  There  is,  therefore,  no  reason  on  this 
account  why  a  man  should  not  be  a  Democrat, 
because  as  such  he  is  compelled  to  subscribe  to 
the  soundest  plank  ever  put  forth  by  either  party 
in  its  platforms  on  the  subject  of  the  relation  of 
the  Federal  to  the  State  Governments.  We  are 


-. 5 6  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

o 

Democrats  because  we  believe  in  the  doctrine 
held  by  the  party  on  this  most  important  question. 
Fanaticism  never  stops  to  reason.  Driven 
by  honest  impulses,  it  rushes  to  its  object 
without  regard  to  obstacles.  So  it  was  with 
the  secession  movement,  and  so  it  was  with 
the  political  Abolitionists  of  the  North.  Driven 
on,  they  ceased  not  their  agitation  until  the 
clash  of  arms  came.  Slavery  went  down,  and 
now  it  becomes  the  duty  of  every  patriot  to 
repair  the  injury  done  by  war,  and  place  our 
institutions  on  even  a  more  solid  foundation 
than  ever  before.  The  disturbing  cause  is 
now  removed,  and  it  is  time  for  sober  reflec 
tion  and  intelligent  action,  so  that  we  may 
preserve  intact  the  Government  our  fathers 
transmitted  to  us,  unimpaired,  unchanged,  and 
vigorous  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  its 

O 

founders.  To  clo  this,  we  conscientiously  believe, 
the  great  Democratic  party  of  the  Union  now 
offers  the  best  means  by  which  this  can  be 
clone.  It  reaches  out  into  every  section  of  this 
great  country ;  it  stands  united  once  more  upon 
these  grand  principles  of  fraternal  union, 
upon  the  basis  of  the  Constitution,  the  just 
rights  of  the  Federal  Government  undisputedly 
granted  to  it,  while  the  reserved  rights  of  the 
States  are  equally  preserved  to  them.  It  is 
the  only  national  party  that  can  conciliate  the 
angry  sections  and  make  this  country  what 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 


the  sages  and  heroes  of  the  Revolution  de 
signed  it  should  be,  a  sisterhood  of  States,  a 
land  of  freedom,  a  home  for  the  oppressed 
of  all  lands. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    RIGHT   OF    COERCION. 

IT  has  been  said  by  some  who  have  but  poorly 
studied  the  formation  of  our  Government 
that  because  Democrats  opposed  coercion 
before  the  Rebellion  commenced,  that  therefore  it 
was  "  a  disloyal  party/'  and  the  world  disloyal  is 
pronounced  as  if  it  were  a  horrible  thing  to  hold 
the  opinion  so  ably  set  forth  by  the  Fathers  of  the 
Republic  and  by  all  sound  constitutional  lawyers 
and  statesmen  since  then.  Andrew  Johnson,  Sen 
ator  from  Tennessee,  then  applauded  for  his  opin 
ions,  and  the  candidate  of  the  Republican  party 
for  Vice-President  in  1864,  elected  by  them,  and 
afterward  President  of  the  United  States,  held 
these  views.  He  said  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  on  December  1 8th,  1860:  "The  Federal 
Government  has  no  power  to  coerce  a  State,  be 
cause  by  the  eleventh  amendment  of  the  Consti 
tution  of  the  United  States  it  is  expressly  pro 
vided  that  you  cannot  even  put  one  of  those  States 
before  the  courts  of  the  country  as  a  party.  As 


36S  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

a  State,  the  Federal  Government  has  no  power  to 
coerce  it ;  but  it  is  a  member  of  the  compact,  to 
which  it  agreed  with  the  other  States,  and  this 
Government  has  the  right  to  pass  laws,  and  to 
enforce  those  laws  on  individuals,  and  it  has  the 
right  and  the  power  not  to  coerce  a  State,  but  to 
enforce  and  execute  the  law  upon  individuals 
within  the  limits  of  a  State."  This  was  the  view 
held  by  Hon.  John  A.  Logan,  and  by  many  who 
even  now  are  members  of  the  Republican  party, 
and  why  should  it  be  strange  that  Democrats  an 
nounced  those  doctrines?  They  did  not  deny  the 
duty  and  power  of  the  Federal  Government  to 
enforce  its  laws  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  if 
resisted.  President  Buchanan,  in  his  message  to 
Congress  on  January  8th,  A.  D.  i86r,  says:  "The 
dangerous  and  hostile  attitude  of  the  States  to 
ward  each  other  has  already  far  transcended  and 
cast  in  the  shade  the  ordinary  executive  duties 
already  provided  for  by  law,  and  has  assumed 
such  vast  and  alarming  proportions  as  to  place 
the  subject  entirely  beyond  executive  control.  The 
fact  cannot  be  disguised  that  we  are  in  the  midst 

o 

of  a  great  revolution.  In  all  its  various  bearings, 
therefore,  I  commend  the  question  to  Congress 
as  the  only  human  tribunal  under  Providence 
possessing  the  power  to  meet  the  existing  emer 
gency.  To  them  exclusively  belongs  the  power 
to  declare  war  or  to  authorize  the  employment  of 
the  military  force  in  all  cases  contemplated  by 
the  Constitution." 


DEMO CRA TIC  PRINCIPLES. 

Congress  might  then  have  taken  action.  The 
Republican  party  had  the  power  in  both  branches 
of  Congress  by  reason  of  the  secession  of  South 
ern  Senators,  who  left  the  Republicans  in  control 
of  the  Senate,  and  they  had  held  the  House  of 
Representatives  before  that  event  occurred.  No 
person  ever  doubted  the  right  and  duty  of  Con 
gress  to  pass  laws  to  enable  the  President  to  de 
fend  the.  Union  against  armed  rebellion.  At  this 
time  the  question  of  coercion  had  already  passed 
away.  The  Southern  States  had  seceded  and 
taken  forcible  possession  of  public  property,  and 
had  themselves  become  the  assailants.  To  this  Con 
gress  the  President  appealed  to  decide  the  ques 
tion  ;  but  though  the  Republicans  were  in  power  in 
both  branches,  Congress  shrunk  from  its  duty.  It 
might  have  been  commendable  had  it  desired  to 
prevent  the  effusion  of  fraternal  blood  and  restore 
the  Union — perhaps  it  might  have  been  their  ob 
ject—still,  the  duty  of  the  hour  confronted  it  and 
they  shrunk  from  it.  Had  it  promptly  passed  the 
bill  to  enable  the  President  to  call  forth  the  militia 
or  to  accept  the  services  of  volunteers,  as  Lincoln 
did  when  Congress  was  not  in  session,  it  might 
complain  ;  but  it  failed  to  do  so,  and  is  estopped 
from  char^ino-  others  with  a  want  of  vi^or  in  this 

o       o  o 

respect.  Why,  then,  charge  Democrats  with  de 
reliction  of  duty  when  its  own  chosen  party  legis 
lative  power  was  then  assembled  and  failed  to  do 
that  with  which  they  would  now  blame  the  Dem- 


370  DEMOCRATIC   PRINCIPLES. 

ocracy?  It  was  his  duty  to  enforce  the  laws,  theirs 
to  pass  them !  Then  how  absurd  to  blame  others 
for  that  which  they  were  guilty  of  themselves  ! 
This,  then,  is  a  brief  allusion  to  the  subject  of  co 
ercion  and  the  exercise  of  military  power  to  sup 
press  the  Rebellion,  and  there  is  nothing  in  it  that 
any  Democrat  need  blush  to  acknowledge.  These 
charges  are  only  made  to  divert  the  mind  of  the 
voter  from  the  real  questions  at  issue  between 
the  parties  and  can  furnish  no  reason  whatever 
why  a  man  should  not  be  a  Democrat  after  more 
than  twenty  years  have  passed  .away,  and  almost 
a  new  generation  has  come  upon  the  stage  of 
action. 

Rather  should  these  sound  views  of  the  Consti 
tution  and  convictions  of  patriotic  duty  in  those 
trying  days  of  our  national  peril  induce  men  once 
more  to  rally  under  the  flag  of  Democracy,  and 
place  in  power  those  who  have  been  thus  true  to 
the  great  principles  of  free  institutions  upon  which 
our  Government  is  founded.  True  Democrats 
believe  this  to  be  their  duty. 


DEMOCRA  TIC  PRINCIPLES. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    FUTURE    OF    DEMOCRACY. 

RECONCILIATION  must  take  place.  That 
these  principles  will  finally  triumph  in  the 
administration  of  our  public  affairs  we 
can  have  no  doubt.  The  progress  our  country 
has  made  under  their  benign  influence,  notwith 
standing  their  interruption  by  the  events  occur 
ring  during  the  greatest  civil  war  known  in  his 
tory,  forshadows  this. 

No  other  policy  will  preserve  the  Union  and 
the  liberties  of  the  people  at  the  same  time,  and 
we  believe  both  will  be  our  heritage.  The  limits 
to  which  this  principle  of  co-equal  sovereign 
States,  bound  together  in  one  National  Govern 
ment,  under  a  Constitution  of  granted  powers, 
can  be  extended,  is  scarcely  conceivable.  Each 
attending  to  its  local  concerns  and  domestic  affairs, 
free  from  interference  by  the  central  or  supreme 
Government,  brings  the  power  to  gover;i  the 
people  home  to  their  own  firesides. 

If  dissatisfaction  arises  it  can  be  remedied  by 
themselves  without  disturbing  the  peace  of  the 
whole.  It  is  emphatically  the  principle  of  local 
self-government  in  the  States.  They  are  alone 
responsible  for  their  bad  laws.  They  reap  the 
blessings  of  cjood  ones,  while  the  great  mass  of 


772 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 


the  people  of  the  United  States,  now  numbering 
over  fifty  millions,  can  go  on  with  their  enterprises 
developing  the  country  and  building  up  the  great 
West — founding  States,  each  possessing  the  same 
right  to  pass  such  laws  as  to  them  may  seem  best. 
As  the  country  becomes  enlarged,  and  population 
increases,  the  application  of  these  principles  be 
comes  the  more  necessary.  Then  why  not  adopt 
them  as  the  rule  of  our  political  action.  Why 
demand  a  stronger  government,  as  the  Repub 
licans  do,  when  this  is  absolutely  the  stronger  of 
the  two. 

Centralization  must  mean  despotism.     A  gov 
ernment,  to  reach  out  to  the  verge  of  a  mighty 
empire,  must  of  necessity  be  centralized,  power 
ful,    and     not    depend    upon     the     masses,     but 
the   military,   for  enforcing  its   requirements,   or 
else  its  duties  must  be  few  and  simple,  and  only 
concern  national  affairs,  easily  enforced,  and   felt 
as  little  as  possible  by  the  citizens  of  the  country. 
This  the  Democracy  want.     Any  other   form  will 
be  a  failure.     Our  present   form  of  government 
is,  therefore,  the  best  ever  devised  by  man,  espe 
cially  is  it  so,  for  the  circumstances  under  which 
we  find  this  country  placed.     A  climate  ranging 
from  the  rigorous  winters  of  the  extreme  North, 
to  almost  die  tropics  of  the  South,  has  a  variety 
of  productions  of  the  soil,  and  diversified  interests 
to   consider.     No   legislation   could,  under   these 
manifold  conditions,  be  generally  acceptable.    We 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 


373 


must  have  legislation  by  smaller  districts.  The 
whole  people  could  not  be  sufficiently  represented 
in  one  great  national  assembly.  Therefore,  of  ne 
cessity,  the  great  mass  of  our  laws,  in  order  to  be 
satisfactory,  must  be  remitted  to  the  people  in  the 
States. 

When  Congress  has  regulated  commerce  with 
other  nations,  established  a  uniform  rule  of  natu 
ralization  and  bankruptcy,  coined  money  and 
regulated  the  value  thereof,  declared  war,  in  case 
of  necessity,  established  posts- offices  and  post- 
roads,  and  exercised  a  few  other  powers,  it  has 
not  only  enough  to  do  to  occupy  its  time,  but  has 
exhausted  all  its  powers  granted  under  the  Con 
stitution.  If'these  powers  be  wisely  exercised,  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  bear  with  equal  weight  upon 
all,  in  no  spirit  of  sectional  superiority,  there  is  no 
limit  to  the  power  of  expansion  under  our  system. 
Whatever  makes  men  love  their  government 
makes  it  strong ;  especially  is  this  true  in  a  free 
government  like  ours. 

If  this  system  be  adhered  to,  and  the  North  and 
the  South  and  the  East  and  the  West  be  made 
to  love,  respect  and  obey  it,  because  of  the  bless 
ings  it  brings  to  them,  what  may  not  the  next 
hundred  years  in  America  witness  ?  With  a  soil 
naturally  productive  in  all  sections  of  the  country, 
mineral  wealth  stored  away  beneath  it  in  abund 
ance,  lakes,  rivers,  and  railroads  affording  abund 
ant  facilities  to  interchange  products  and  manu- 


«  y  .  DEMOCRA  TIC  PRINCIPLES. 

factures  with  each  other ;  the  wants  of  one  section 
supplied  by  another  creating  activity  in  trade, 
incentives  to  enterprise,  stimulants  to  progress, 
where  are  to  be  found  brighter  prospects  to  a 
nation,  if  we  are  true  to  the  principles  on  which 
our  Government  is  founded,  than  here  in  this 
heaven  favored  land.  But  in  order  to  continue 
our  national  prosperity  and  enjoy  the  full  fruition 
of  our  hopes  we  must  bury  our  sectional  preju 
dices,  and  enforce  the  benign  principles  so  patriot 
ically  announced  by  Washington  when  he  took 
public  leave  of  his  countrymen.  This  reconcilia 
tion  cannot  be  brought  about  by  force.  It  is  alike 
impossible  that  the  bitter  passions  of  the  war 
period  can  long  be  continued,  or  that  force  and 
oppression  or  denunciation  should  bring  about 
reconciliation.  A  beneficent  providence  has  so 
constituted  our  natures  that  a  violent  degree  of 
passion  exercised  in  one  direction  is  sooner  or 
later  followed  by  a  re-action  in  the  opposite  direc 
tion.  If  this  were  not  so,  and  as  Everett  said 
upon  the  brow  of  Cemetery  Hill,  at  Gettysburg, 
where  but  a  few  months  before  had  been  turned 
back  the  rebel  armies,  and  their  success  became 
impossible,  "were  hatred  always  returned  by  equal 
and  still  stronger  feelings  of  hatred;  if  injuries 
inflicted  always  lead  to  still  greater  injuries  by 
way  of  retaliation,  and  thus  forever  a  compound 
of  accumulated  hatred,  revenge,  and  retaliation 
were  the  result,  then  for  thousands  of  years  would 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES.  «*? 

this  world  have  been  inhabited  with  demons  only, 
and  this  earth  have  been  a  perfect  hell.  But  this 
is  not  so ;  all  history  tells  us  it  is  not  true." 

The  North  and  the  South  will  and  must  be  re 
conciled.  The  Democracy  must  do  it.  All  must 
feel  that  they  have  a  common  interest,  and  a  her 
itage  under  a  common  Government;  and  the 
strength  of  the  government  will  be  beyond  calcu 
lation  ;  but  upon  the  other  hand  you  station  the 
military  force  of  the  Union  in  their  towns  and 
cities,  place  national  supervisors  of  elections  at 
their  polls,  send  down  your  federal  deputy  marsh 
als  to  arrest  and  imprison  their  people,  distrusting 
their  ability  and  patriotism  to  guard  their  elections 
against  fraud  and  violence,  and  the  generation  is 
yet  unborn  that  will  see  a  perfect  Union  of  those 
States.  The  great  problem  how  to  break  down 
sectionalism  North  and  South  and  so  order  affairs 
that  parties  shall  not  be  divided  by  geographical 
lines,  is  still  unsettled.  What  party  is  so  well 
qualified  to  do  this  as  the  national  Democratic 
party ;  who  better  calculated  to  do  it  than  that  or 
ganization  under  the  guidance  of  its  chosen  leader, 
the  hero  of  Gettysburg  ? 

When  Everett  delivered  his  last  great  speech 
at  Gettysburg  in  A.  D.  1863,  he  did  not  know  that 
he  was  predicting  a  parallel  tQ  the  history  recited 
in  portraying  the  close  of  other  rebellions.  He 
brought  to  mind  the  fact  that  the  War  o.f  the  Roses 
in  England  had  lasted  thirty  years,  from  1455  to 


^5  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

1485.  It  was  one  of  the  fiercest  civil  wars  known 
in  history  ;  eighty  princes  of  the  royal  blood  had 
lost  their  lives ;  and  the  families  of  the  nobility 
almost  annihilated.  The  strong  feelings  of  affec 
tion  which  kindred  families  then  bore  for  one  an 
other,  and  the  vindictive  spirit  which  that  age  of 
the  world  made  it  a  point  of  honor  to  maintain, 
rendered  the  great  families  of  England  implacable 
enemies.  But  at  last  the  titles  of  the  two  con 
tending  families  were  centered  in  one  person. 
Henry  VII  went  up  from  Bosworth  field  to  mount 
the  throne.  He  was  received  everywhere  with 
joyous  exclamations  and  regarded  as  one  sent  by 
Heaven  to  put  an  end  to  that  terrible  strife  and 
give  peace  and  prosperity  to  a  distracted  country. 
Take  the  instance  of  another  rebellion  in  Eng 
land,  lasting  from  1620  to  1640,  twenty  years, 
ending  suddenly  with  the  return  of  Charles  II. 
These  again  were  twenty  years  of  discord,  of  con 
flict,  civil  war,  confiscation,  plunder,  havoc  and 
destruction.  A  proud,  hereditary  peerage  trampled 
in  the  dust;  a  national  church  overturned;  its 
clergy  beggared ;  its  most  eminent  Prelate  put  to 
death  ;  a  military  despotism  established  upon  the 
ruins  of  a  monarchy  that  had  lasted  seven  hundred 
years,  and  its  legitimate  sovereign  brought  to  the 
block.  All  this  and  more  done  to  embitter  and 
estrange  a  people,  and  madden  and  enrage  con 
tending  factions,  and  yet  these  people  were  recon 
ciled  !  Not  by  a  gentle  transition  but  suddenly 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

when  the  restoration  had  appeared  most  hopeless. 
The  son  of  the  beheaded  monarch  was  brought 
back  to  his  father's  house  and  to  his  bloodstained 
throne  amid  such  universal  and  inexpressible  joy 
as  led  the  merry  monarch  to  exclaim,  he  doubted 
it  was  his  own  fault  he  had  been  so  long  absent, 
for  there  seemed  to  be  no  one  who  did  not  pro 
test  that  he  long  since  wished  for  his  return. 

God  has  ofttimes  in  a  wonderful  manner  ended 
rebellions.  It  was  hoped  at  one  time  that  ours — 
by  Sherman's  agreement — would  have  ended  as 
suddenly  and  as  joyously;  but  those  in  authority 
did  not  so  will  it. 

Take  one  more  later  instance,  that  of  the 
French  Revolution.  It  was  a  reign  of  terror  un 
derstood  by  all.  A  blacker  page  of  crime  cannot 
be  found  in  all  history.  Another  church  broken 
up,  its  clergy  murdered ;  men  slaughtered  by 
boat-loads,  and  beheaded  by  machinery  !  A  mon 
archy  destroyed  ;  a  royal  family  extinguished,  and 
their  adherents  exiled  or  beheaded.  If  the  most 
deadly  feud  had  the  power  permanently  to  alien 
ate  one  portion  of  a  people  from  another,  surely 
here  we  have  an  example ;  but  far  otherwise  was 
the  fact.  Napoleon  brought  order  out  of  chaos  ; 
the  Jacobins  of  France  welcomed  home  the  re 
turning  emigrants,  and  royalists  whose  estates 
they  had  confiscated  and  whose  kindred  they  had 
brought  to  the  guillotine. 

After  another  turn   of  the  wheel  of    fortune, 


378     .  DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES. 

Louis  XVIII  was  restored  to  his  throne,  and  he 
took  the  regicide  Fouche  to  his  cabinet  and  to 
his  confidence,  though  he  had  voted  for  the  decree 
ordering  his  brother's  death.  So,  too,  should  the 
dissensions  in  this  country  cease.  It  would  have 
already  been  so  had  not  base,  designing  men  for 
their  own  selfish  purposes,  prevented  it.  But  they 
cannot  do  it  much  longer.  This  Union  must  be 
restored.  The  great  public  heart  yearns  for  it. 
The  South  in  convention  assembled  with  the 
North  as  a  pledge  of  peace  and  loyalty  and  good 
will  to  the  Northern  soldiers,  as  they  did  to  the 
civilians,  with  Horace  Greeley,  eight  years  ago, 
stands  forth  and  says:  Take  the  hero  of  your 
greatest  battles;  take  him  who  turned  back  our 
hosts  at  Gettysburg;  who,  after  the  repeated  as 
saults  of  Loncrstreet  with  the  flower  of  the  South- 

o 

ern  army,  scattered  them  as  a  chaff  before  the 
wind,  and  made  it  impossible  to  achieve  our  in 
dependence;  take  him  whom  our  bullets  have 
wounded;  take  him  who,  from  the  very  nature  of 
the  case,  suffered  most  in  his  own  person  by  our 
acts ;  take  him  who  has  sympathy  for  his  com 
rades  in  arms  ;  but  take  him  also,  because,  when 
the  war  was  over,  he  gave  us  back  our  own  local 
government ;  take  him  who  was  a  patriot  in  war 
as  well  as  a  civilian,  though  a  soldier,  in  peace, 
and  we  will  obey  the  laws ;  we  will  be  loyal  to  our 
common  Government.  Take  him  and  let  us  have 
peace  with  you.  Should  we  reject  this  propo- 


DEMOCRATIC  PRINCIPLES.  --^ 

0/9 

sition  ?  Should  not  the  whole  country  welcome 
back  those  once  in  rebellion  into  the  folds  of  a 
common  nationality,  and  forever  silence  the  dis 
trust  of  sections  ? 

Let  us  cast  away  this  revengeful  disposition ; 
let  the  better  principles  of  our  nature  do  their 
work,  and  soon  we  shall  see  a  nation  of  freemen 
rejoicing  over  the  restoration  of  their  Union,  and 
the  reconciliation  of  their  difficulties,  as  none  have 
ever  rejoiced  before.  It  is  the  knowledge  of  these 
things,  their  importance  to  the  country,  the  neces 
sity  that  it  should  be  speedily  accomplished,  that 
impels  Democrats  to  the  task.  They  are  Demo 
crats  because  they  earnestly  desire  to  see  this 
great  result  accomplished. 


LIVES 


ALL  THE  PRESIDENTS 


UNITED   STATES. 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS 
A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  OF  THE  NATION'S  HISTORY 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 

FIRST  President  of  the  United  States,  was 
born  in  Westmoreland  County,  Virginia, 
on  the  22d  of  February,  1732.  He  was 
the  son  of  Augustine  Washington,  a  wealthy 
planter,  and  his  second  wife,  Mary  Ball.  John 
Washington,  the  great-grandfather  of  the  illus 
trious  subject  of  this  sketch,  emigrated  from  Eng 
land  and  settled  in  Virginia  about  1657.  George 
Washington's  father  died  when  he  was  in  his 
eleventh  year,  leaving  him  in  the  care  of  his 
mother,  a  woman  of  marked  strength  of  charac 
ter.  She  was  worthy  of  her  trust.  From  her  he 
acquired  that  self-restraint,  love  of  order,  and 
strict  regard  for  justice  and  fair  dealing,  which, 
with  his  inherent  probity  and  truthfulness,  formed 
the  basis  of  a  character  rarely  equaled  for  its 
simple,  yet  commanding  nobleness. 

Apart  from  his  mother's  training,  the  youthful 
Washington  received  only  the  ordinary  country- 

385 


FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

school  education  of  the  time,  never  having  attended 
college,  or  taken  instruction  in  the  ancient  lan 
guages.  He  had  no  inclination  for  any  but  the 
most  practical  studies,  but  in  these  he  was  remark 
ably  precocious.  When  barely  sixteen  Lord  Fair 
fax,  who  had  become  greatly  interested  in  the 
promising  lad,  engaged  him  to  survey  his  vast 
estates  lying  in  the  wilderness  west  of  the  Blue 
Ridge.  So  satisfactory  was  his  performance  of 
this  perilous  and  difficult  task,  that,  on  its  comple 
tion,  he  was  appointed  Public  Surveyor.  This 
office  he  held  for  three  years,  acquiring  consider 
able  pecuniary  benefits,  as  well  as  a  knowledge 
of  the  country,  which  was  of  value  to  him  in  his 
subsequent  military  career. 

When  only  nineteen,  Washington  was  appointed 
Military  Inspector  of  one  of  the  districts  into  which 
Virginia  was  then  divided.  In  November,  1753, 
he  was  sent  by  Governor  Dinwiddie  on  a  mission 
to  the  French  posts,  near  the  Ohio  River,  to  ascer 
tain  the  designs  of  France  in  that  quarter.  It  was 
a  mission  of  hardship  and  peril,  performed  with 
rare  prudence,  sagacity,  and  resolution.  Its  bril 
liant  success  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortunes. 
"From  that  time,"  says  Irving,  "Washington  was 
the  rising  hope  of  Virginia," 

Of  Washington's  services  in  the  resulting  war, 
we  cannot  speak  in  detail.  An  unfortunate  mili 
tary  expedition  to  the  frontier  was  followed  by  a 
campaign  under  Braddock,  whom  he  accompanied 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

as  aid-de-camp,  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  in  his 
march  against  Fort  Duquesne.  That  imprudent 
General,  scorning  the  advice  of  his  youthful  aid, 
met  disastrous  defeat  and  death.  In  the  battle, 
Washington's  coat  was  pierced  by  four  bullets. 
His  bravery  and  presence  of  mind  alone  saved 
the  army  from  total  destruction. 

Washington,  on  his  return,  was  appointed  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  all  the  troops  of  the  colony, 
then  numbering  about  two  thousand  men.  This 
was  in  1755,  when  he  was  but  little  more  than 
twenty-three  years  of  age.  Having  led  the  Vir 
ginia  troops  in  Forbes'  expedition  in  1758,  by 
which  Fort  Duquesne  was  captured,  he  resigned 
his  commission,  and,  in  January,  1759,  married 
Mrs.  Martha  Custis  (nee  Dandridge),  and  settled 
down  at  Mount  Vernon,  on  the  Potomac,  which 
estate  he  had  inherited  from  his  elder  brother 
Lawrence,  and  to  which  he  added  until  it  reached 
some  eight  thousand  acres. 

The  fifteen  years  following  his  marriage  were, 
to  Washington,  years  of  such  happiness  as  is 
rarely  accorded  to  mortals.  It  was  the  halcyon 
period  of  his  life.  His  home  was  the  centre  of  a 
generous  hospitality,  where  the  duties  of  a  busy 
planter  and  of  a  Judge  of  the  County  Court  were 
varied  by  rural  enjoyments  and  social  intercourse. 
He  managed  his  estates  with  prudence  and  econ 
omy.  He  slurred  over  nothing,  and  exhibited, 
even  then,  that  rigid  adherence  to  system  and 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

accuracy  of  detail  which  subsequently  marked  his 
performance  of  his  public  duties. 

In  the  difficulties  which  presently  arose  between 
Great  Britain  and  her  American  Colonies,  Wash 
ington  sympathized  deeply  with  the  latter,  and 
took  an  earnest,  though  not  specially  prominent 
part  in  those  movements  which  finally  led  to  the 
War  of  Independence.  In  the  first  general  Con 
gress  of  the  Colonies,  which  met  in  Philadelphia, 
on  the  5th  of  September,  1774,  we  find  the  name 
of  Washington  among  the  Virginia  Delegates. 
As  to  the  part  he  took  in  that  Congress,  we  can 
only  judge  from  a  remark  made  by  Patrick  Henry, 
also  a  Delegate:  "Colonel  Washington,"  said  the 
great  orator,  "was  undoubtedly  the  greatest  man 
on  that  floor,  if  you  speak  of  solid  information  and 
sound  judgment." 

In  the  councils  of  his  native  province,  we  also 
get  glimpses  of  his  calm  and  dignified  presence. 
And  he  is  ever  on  the  side  of  the  Colonies — mod 
erate,  yet  resolute,  hopeful  of  an  amicable  adjust 
ment  of  difficulties,  yet  advocating  measures  look 
ing  to  a  final  appeal  to  arms. 

At  length  the  storm  broke.  The  Battle  of 
Lexington  called  the  whole  country  to  arms. 
While  in  the  East  the  rude  militia  of  New  Eng 
land  beleaguered  Boston  with  undisciplined  but 
stern  determination,  Congress,  in  May,  1775,  met 
a  second  time  in  Philadelphia.  A  Federal  Union 
was  formed  and  an  army  called  for.  As  chair- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  389 

man  of  the  various  Committees  on  Military  Affairs, 
Washington  drew  up  most  of  the  rules  and  regu 
lations  of  the  army,  and  devised  measures  for 
defense.  The  question  now  arose — By  whom 
was  the  army  to  be  led  ?  Hancock,  of  Massa 
chusetts,  was  ambitious  of  the  place.  Sectional 
jealousies  showed  themselves.  Happily,  how 
ever,  Johnson,  of  Maryland,  rising  in  his  seat, 
nominated  Washington.  The  election  was  by 
ballot,  and  unanimous.  Modestly  expressing  sin 
cere  doubts  as  to  his  capability,  Washington 
accepted  the  position  with  thanks,  but  refused  to 
receive  any  salary.  "  I  will  keep  an  exact  account 
of  my  expenses,"  he  said.  "These  I  doubt  not 
Congress  will  discharge.  That  is  all  I  desire." 

On  the  1 5th  of  June  he  received  his  commis 
sion.  Writing  a  tender  letter  to  his  wife,  he 
rapidly  prepared  to  start  on  the  following  day 
to  the  army  before  Boston.  He  was  now  in  the 
full  vigor  of  manhood,  forty-three  years  of  age, 
tall,  stately,  of  powerful  frame  and  commanding 
presence.  "As  he  sat  his  horse  with  manly 
grace,"  says  Irving,  "his  military  bearing  de 
lighted  every  eye,  and  wherever  he  went  the  air 
rung  with  acclamations." 

On  his  way  to  the  army,  Washington  met  the 
tidings  of  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  When  told 
how  bravely  the  militia  had  acted,  a  load  seemed 
lifted  from  his  heart.  "  The  liberties  of  the  coun 
try  are  safe !"  he  exclaimed.  On  the  2d  of  July 


-5 go  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

he  took  command  of  the  troops,  at  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  the  entire  force  then  numbering  about 
15,000  men.  It  was  not  until  March,  1776,  that 
the  siege  of  Boston  ended  m  the  withdrawal  of 
the  British  forces.  Washington's  admirable  con 
duct  of  this  siege  drew  forth  the  enthusiastic  ap 
plause  of  the  nation.  Congress  had  a  gold  medal 
struck,  bearing  the  effigy  of  Washington  as  the 
Deliverer  of  Boston. 

Hastening  to  defend  New  York  from  threat 
ened  attack,  Washington  there  received,  on  the 
9th  of  July,  1776,  a  copy  of  the  "Declaration  of 
Independence,"  adopted  by  Congress  five  days 
previously.  On  the  27th  of  the  following  month 
occurred  the  disastrous  battle  of  Long  Island,  the 
misfortunes  of  which  were  retrieved,  however, 
by  Washington's  admirable  retreat,  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  achievements  of  the  war.  Again 
defeated  at  White  Plains,  he  was  compelled  to 
retire  across  New  Jersey.  On  the  7th  of  De 
cember  he  passed  to  the  west  side  of  the  Dela 
ware,  at  the  head  of  a  dispirited  army  of  less  than 
four  thousand  effective  men.  many  of  them  with 
out  shoes,  and  leaving  tracks  of  blood  in  the 
snow.  This  was  the  darkest  period  of  the  war. 
But  suddenly,  as  if  inspired,  Washington,  in  the 
midst  of  a  driving  storm,  on  Christmas  night  re- 
crossing  the  Delaware,  now  filled  with  floating 
ice,  gained  in  rapid  succession  the  brilliant  vic 
tories  of  Trenton  and  Princeton,  thus  changing 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

the  entire  aspect  of  affairs.  Never  were  victories 
better  timed.  The  waning  hopes  of  the  people 
in  their  cause  and  their  commander  were  at  once 
restored  as  if  by  magic. 

It  is  not  '  possible,  in  this  necessarily  brief 
sketch,  to  give  the  details  of  the  agonizing  strug 
gle  in  which  Washington  and  his  little  army  were 
now  involved.  Superior  numbers  and  equip 
ments  often  inflicted  upon  him  disasters  which 
would  have  crushed  a  less  resolute  spirit. 
Cheered,  however,  by  occasional  glimpses  of  vic 
tory,  and  wisely  taking  advantage  of  what  his 
troops  learned  in  hardship  and  defeat,  he  was  at 
length  enabled,  by  one  sagacious  and  deeply 
planned  movement,  to  bring  the  war  virtually  to 
a  close  in  the  capture  of  the  British  army  of 
7,000  men,  under  Cornwallis,  at  Yorktown,  on 
the  i  Qth  of  October,  1781. 

The    tidings    of  the   surrender    of    Cornwallis 

o 

filled  the  country  with  joy.  The  lull  in  the  ac 
tivity  of  both  Congress  and  the  people  was  not 
viewed  with  favor  by  Washington.  It  was  a 
period  of  peril.  Idleness  in  the  army  fostered 
discontents  there,  which  at  one  time  threatened 
the  gravest  mischief.  It  was  only  by  the  utmost 
exertion  that  Washington  induced  the  malcon 
tents  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  those  who  were  at 
tempting,  as  he  alleged,  "  to  open  the  flood-gates 
of  civil  discord,  and  deluge  our  rising  empire 
with  blood." 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

On  September  3d,  1783,  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
signed  at  Paris,  by  which  the  complete  indepen 
dence  of  the  United  States  was  secured.  On  the 
23d  of  December  following,  Washington  for 
mally  resigned  his  command.  The  very  next 
morning  he  hastened  to  his  beloved  Mount  Ver- 
non,  arriving  there  that  evening,  in  time  to  enjoy 
the  festivities  which  there  greeted  him. 

Washington  was  not  long  permitted  to  enjoy 
his  retirement.  Indeed,  his  solicitude  for  the  per 
petuity  of  the  political  fabric  he  had  helped  to 
raise  he  could  not  have  shaken  off  if  he  would. 
Unconsciously,  it  might  have  been,  by  his  letters 
to  his  old  friends  still  in  public  life,  he  continued 
to  exercise  a  powerful  influence  on  national  affairs. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  propose  a  remodeling 
of  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  which  were  now 
acknowledged  to  be  insufficient  for  their  purpose. 
At  length,  a  convention  of  delegates  from  the 
several  States,  to  form  a  new  Constitution,  met  at 
Philadelphia,  in  May,  1787.  Washington  pre 
sided  over  its  session,  which  was  long  and  stormy. 
After  four  months  of  deliberation  was  formed 
that  Constitution  under  which,  with  some  subse 
quent  amendments,  we  now  live. 

When  the  new  Constitution  was  finally  ratified, 
Washington  was  called  to  the  Presidency  by  the 
unanimous  voice  of  the  people.  In  April,  1789, 
he  set  out  from  Mount  Vernon  for  New  York, 
then  the  seat  of  Government,  to  be  inaugurated. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

"  His  progress,"  says  Irving,  "  was  a  continuous 
ovation.  The  ringing  of  bells  and  the  roaring  of 
cannon  proclaimed  his  course.  Old  and  young, 
women  and  children,  thronged  the  highways  to 
bless  and  welcome  him."  His  inauguration  took 
place  April  3Oth,  1 789,  before  an  immense  multi 
tude. 

The  eight  years  of  Washington's  Administra 
tion  were  years  of  trouble  and  difficulty.  The 
two  parties  which  had  sprung  up — the  Federalist 
and  the  Republican — were  greatly  embittered 
against  each  other,  each  charging  the  other  with 
the  most  unpatriotic  designs.  No  other  man  than 
Washington  could  have  carried  the  country  safely 
through  so  perilous  a  period.  His  prudent,  firm, 
yet  conciliatory  spirit,  aided  by  the  love  and  ven 
eration  with  which  the  people  regarded  him,  kept 
down  insurrection  and  silenced  discontent. 

That  he  passed  through  this  trying  period 
safely  cannot  but  be  a  matter  of  astonishment. 
The  angry  partisan  contests,  to  which  we  have 
referred,  were  of  themselves  sufficient  to  dis 
hearten  any  common  man.  Even  Washington  was 
distrustful  of  the  event,  so  fiercely  were  the  par 
tisans  of  both  parties  enlisted — the  Federalists 
clamoring  for  a  stronger  government,  the  Repub 
licans  for  additional  checks  on  the  power  already 
intrusted  to  the  Executive.  Besides,  the  Revolu 
tion  then  raging  in  France  became  a  source  of 
contention.  The  Federalists  sided  with  England, 


394  °UR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

who  was  bent  on  crushing  that  Revolution;  the 
Republicans,  on  the  other  hand,  sympathized 
deeply  with  the  French  people :  so  that  between 
them  both,  it  was  with  extreme  difficulty  that  the 
President  could  prevent  our  young  Republic,  bur 
dened  with  debt,  her  people  groaning  under  taxes 
necessarily  heavy,  and  with  finances,  commerce, 
and  the  industrial  arts  in  a  condition  of  chaos, 
from  being  dragged  into  a  fresh  war  with  either 
France  or  England. 

But,  before  retiring  from  the  Presidency,  Wash 
ington  had  the  happiness  of  seeing  many  of  the 
difficulties  from  which  he  had  apprehended  so  much, 
placed  in  a  fair  way  of  final  adjustment.  A  finan 
cial  system  was  developed  which  lightened  the 
burden  of  public  debt  and  revived  the  drooping 
energies  of  the  people.  The  country  progressed 
rapidly.  Immigrants  flocked  to  our  shores,  and 
the  regions  west  of  the  Alleghanies  began  to  fill 
up.  New  States  claimed  admission  and  were 
received  into  the  Union — Vermont,  in  1791 ;  Ken 
tucky,  in  1792  ;  and  Tennessee,  in  1796  ;  so  that, 
before  the  close  of  Washington's  second  term,  the 
original  thirteen  States  had  increased  to  sixteen. 

Having  served  two  Presidential  terms,  Wash 
ington,  declining  another  election,  returned  once 
more  to  Mount  Vernon,  "  that  haven  of  repose  to 
which  he  had  so  often  turned  a  wistful  eye,"  bear 
ing  with  him  the  love  and  gratitude  of  his  country 
men,  to  whom,  in  his  memorable  "  Farewell  Ad- 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  -„? 

dress,"  he  bequeathed  a  legacy  of  practical  politi 
cal  wisdom  which  it  will  be  well  for  them  to 
remember  and  profit  by.  In  this  immortal  docu 
ment  he  insisted  that  the  union  of  the  States  was 
"a  main  pillar"  in  the  real  independence  of  the 
people.  He  also  entreated  them  to  "steer  clear 
of  any  permanent  alliances  with  any  portion  of 
the  foreign  world." 

At  Mount  Vernon  Washington  found  constant 
occupation  in  the  supervision  of  his  various 
estates.  It  was  while  taking  his  usual  round  on 
horseback  to  look  after  his  farms,  that,  on  the  1 2th 
of  December,  1799,  he  encountered  a  cold,  winter 
storm.  He  reached  home  chill  and  damp.  The 
next  day  he  had  a  sore  throat,  with  some  hoarse 
ness.  By  the  morning  of  the  I4th  he  could 
scarcely  swallow.  "  I  find  I  am  going,"  said  he  to 
a  friend.  "  I  believed  from  the  first  that  the 
attack  would  be  fatal."  That  night,  between  ten 
and  eleven,  he  expired,  without  a  struggle  or  a 
sigh,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  his  disease 
being  acute  laryngitis.  Three  days  afterward 
his  remains  were  deposited  in  the  family  tombs  at 
Mount  Vernon,  where  they  still  repose. 

Washington  left  a  reputation  on  which  there  is 
no  stain.  "  His  character,"  says  Irving,  "  possessed 
fewer  inequalities,  and  a  rarer  union  of  virtues 
than  perhaps  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  one  man. 
*  *  *  It  seems  as  if  Providence  had  endowed 
him  in  a  pre-eminent  degree  with  the  qualities 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

requisite  to  -fit  him  for  the  high  destiny  he  was 
called  upon  to  fulfill." 

In  stature  Washington  was  six  feet  two  inches 
in  height,  well  proportioned,  and  firmly  built. 
His  hair  was  brown,  his  eyes  blue  and  set  far 
apart.  From  boyhood  he  was  famous  for  great 
strength  and  agility.  Jefferson  pronounced  him 
"the  best  horseman  of  his  age,  and  the  most  grace 
ful  figure  that  could  be  seen  on  horseback."  He 
was  scrupulously  neat,  gentlemanly,  and  punctual, 
and  always  dignified  and  reserved. 

In  the  resolution  passed  upon  learning  of  his 
death,  the  National  House  of  Representatives 
described  him  for  the  first  time  in  that  well-known 
phrase,  "  First  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen," — a  tribute  which 
succeding  generations  have  continued  to  bestow 
upon  Washington  without  question  or  doubt.  By 
common  consent  to  him  is  accorded  as  pre-emi 
nently  appropriate  the  title,  "  Pater  Patriae," — the 
"  Father  of  his  Country." 

Of  Washington,  Lord  Brougham  says :  "  It  will 
be  the  duty  of  the  historian  and  the  sage,  in  all 
ages,  to  omit  no  occasion  of  commemorating  this 
illustrious  man  ;  and  until  time  shall  be  no  more 
will  a  test  of  the  progress  our  race  has  made  in 
wisdom  and  virtue  be  derived  from  the  veneration 
paid  to  the  immortal  name  of  Washington." 


ADAMS. 


JOHN  ADAMS, 

SECOND  President  of  the   United   States, 
was  born  at  Braintree,  now  Quincy,  Mass., 
October  i9th,  1735.    He  was  the  eldest  son 
of  John  Adams,  a  farmer,  and  Susanna  Boylston. 
Graduating  from  Harvard  in  1 755,  he  studied  law, 
defraying  his  expenses  by  teaching.    In  1764,  hav 
ing  meanwhile  been  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  mar 
ried  Miss  Abigail  Smith,  a  lady  whose  energy  of 
character  contributed  largely  to  his   subsequent 
advancement. 

As  early  as  1761,  we  find  young  Adams  look 
ing  forward,  with  prophetic  vision,  to  American 
Independence.  When  the  memorable  Stamp  Act 
was  passed  in  1765,  he  joined  heart  and  soul  in 
opposition  to  it.  A  series  of  resolutions  which  he 
drew  up  against  it  and  presented  to  the  citizens  of 
Braintree  was  adopted  also  by  more  than  forty 
other  towns  in  the  Province.  He  took  the  ad 
vanced  grounds  that  it  was  absolutely  void — 
Parliament  having  no  right  to  tax  the  Colonies. 

In  1 768  he  removed  to  Boston.  The  rise  of  the 
young  lawyer  was  now  rapid,  and  he  was  the  lead 
ing  man  in  many  prominent  cases.  When,  in  Sep 
tember,  1774,  the  first  Colonial  Congress  met,  at 
Philadelphia,  Adams  was  one  of  the  five  Delegates 
from  Massachusetts.  In  that  Congress  he  took 
a  prominent  part  He  it  was  who,  on  the  6th  of 


4OO  '  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

May,    1776,    boldly  advanced  upon    the  path   oi 
Independence,  by  moving  "  the  adoption  of  such 
measures  as  would  best  conduce  to  the  happiness 
and   safety  of  the   American   people."      It   was 
Adams,  who,  a  month  later,  seconded  the  resolu 
tion  of  Lee,  of  Virginia,  "  that  these  United  States 
are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  independent."     It 
was  he  who  uttered  the  famous  words,  "  Sink  or 
swim,    live    or   die,    survive    or   perish,   with   my 
country  is  my  unalterable  determination."     He, 
too,  it  was,  who,  with  Jefferson,  Franklin,  Sher 
man,  and  Livingston,  drew  up  that  famous  "  Dec 
laration  of  Independence,"  which,  adopted  by  Con 
gress  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  decided  a  question, 
"  greater,  perhaps,  than   ever  was  or  will  be  de 
cided   anywhere."       During   all    these    years    of 
engrossing  public  duty  he  produced  many  able 
essays  on  the  rights  of  the  Colonies.     These  ap 
peared  in  the  leading  journals   of  the  day  and 
exerted  wide  influence.     The  motion  to  prepare 
a  Declaration  of  Independence  was  opposed  by  a 
strong  party,  to  the  champion  of  which  Adams 
made  reply  and  Jefferson  said,  "John  Adams  was 
the  ablest  advocate  and   champion  of  indepen 
dence  on  the  floor  of  the  House." 

Writing  to  his  wife  on  July  3d,  1776,  and  refer 
ring  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  that  day 
adopted,  he  forecast  the  manner  of  that  day's 
celebration  by  bonfires,  fireworks,  etc.,  as  "  the 
great  anniversary  festival."  During  all  the  years 


JOHN  ADAMS. 

of  the  war  he  was  a  most  zealous  worker  and  val 
ued  counselor.  After  its  years  of  gloom  and 
trial,  on  the  2ist  of  January,  1783,  he  assisted  in 
the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  of  peace,  by  which 
Great  Britain  acknowledged  the  complete  inde 
pendence  of  the  United  States.  On  the  previous 
October,  he  had  achieved  what  he  ever  regarded 
as  the  greatest  success  of  his  life — the  formation 
of  a  treaty  of  peace  and  alliance  with  Holland, 
which  had  a  most  important  bearing  on  the  nego 
tiations  leading  to  the  final  adjustment  with  Eng 
land. 

He  was  United  States  Minister  to  England  from 
1785  to  1788,  and  Vice-President  during  both  the 
terms  of  Washington.  During  these  years,  as 
presiding  officer  of  the  Senate,  he  gave  no  less 
than  twenty  casting  votes,  all  of  them  on  ques 
tions  of  great  importance,  and  all  supporting  the 
policy  of  the  President.  Mr.  Adams  was  himself 
inaugurated  President  on  the  4th  of  March,  1797, 
having  been  elected  over  Jefferson  by  a  small 
majority.  Thomas  Pinckney  was  nominated  for 
the  Vice-Presidency  with  him,  they  representing 
the  Federal  party,  but  in  the  Electoral  College 
Thomas  Jefferson  received  the  choice  and  became 
Vice-President.  He  retained  as  his  Cabinet  the 
officers  previously  chosen  by  Washington. 

He  came  into  office  at  a  critical  period.  The 
conduct  of  the  French  Directory,  in  refusing  to 
receive  our  ambassadors,  and  in  trying  to  injure 


404  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

our  commerce  by  unjust  decrees,  excited  intense 
ill-feeling,  and  finally  led  to  what  is  known  as  "the 
Quasi  War  "  with  France.  Congress  now  passed 
the  so-called  "Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,"  by  which 
extraordinary  and,  it  is  alleged,  unconstitutional 
powers  were  conferred  upon  the  President. 
Though  the  apprehended  war  was  averted,  the 
odium  of  these  laws  effectually  destroyed  the  pop 
ularity  of  Adams,  who,  on  running  for  a  second 
term,  was  defeated  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  representing 
the  Republicans,  who  were  the  Democratic  party 
of  that  day.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1801,  he  re 
tired  to  private  life  on  his  farm  near  Quincy.  His 
course  as  President  had  brought  upon  him  the 
reproaches  of  both  parties,  and  his  days  were 
ended  in  comparative  obscurity  and  neglect.  He 
lived  to  see  his  son,  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  the 
Presidential  chair. 

By  a  singular  coincidence,  the  death  of  Mr. 
Adams  and  that  of  his  old  political  rival,  Jefferson, 
took  place  on  the  same  day,  and  almost  at  the 
same  hour.  Stranger  still,  it  was  on  July  the  4th, 
1826,  whilst  bells  were  ringing  and  cannon  roar 
ing  to  celebrate  the  fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  their  own  immortal 
production,  that  these  two  men  passed  away. 
Mr.  Adams  was  asked  if  he  knew  what  day  it  was. 
"Oh!  yes!"  he  exclaimed,  "It  is  the  Fourth  of 
July.  God  bless  it!  God  bless  you  all!  It  is  a 
great  and  glorious  day!"  and  soon  after  quietly 
expired,  in  the  ninety-first  year  of  his  age. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  ^o^ 

Mr.  Adarrts  possessed  a  vigorous  and  polished 
intellect,  and  was  one  of  the  most  upright  of  men. 
His  character  was  one  to  command  respect,  rather 
than  to  win  affection.  There  was  a  certain  lack 
of  warmth  in  his  stately  courtesy  which  seemed 
to  forbid  approach.  Yet  nobody,  we  are  told, 
could  know  him  intimately  without  admiring  the 
simplicity  and  truth  which  shone  in  all  his  actions. 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  who  succeeded 
Adams  as  President,  was  born  at  Shadwell, 
Albermarle  County,  Va.,  April  2d,  1 743. 
Peter  Jefferson,  his  father,  was  a  man  of  great 
force  of  character  and  of  remarkably  powerful 
physique.  His  mother,  Jane  Randolph,  was  from 
a  most  respectable  English  family.  He  was  the 
eldest  of  eight  children.  He  became  a  classical 
student  when  a  mere  boy,  and  entered  college  in 
an  advanced  class  when  but  seventeen  years  of 
age.  Having  passed  through  college,  he  studied 
law  under  Judge  Wythe,  and  in  1767  commenced 
practice.  In  1769,  he  was  elected  to  the  Virginia 
Legislature.  Three  years  later,  he  married  Mrs. 
Martha  Skelton,  a  rich,  handsome,  and  accom 
plished  young  widow,  with  whom  he  went  to  reside 
in  his  new  mansion  at  Monticello,  near  to  the  spot 
where  he  was  born.  His  practice  at  the  bar  grew 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

rapidly  and  became  very  lucrative,  and  he  early 
engaged  in  the  political  affairs  of  his  own  State. 
For  years  the  breach  between  England  and  her 
Colonies  had  been  rapidly  widening.  Jefferson 
earnestly  advocated  the  right  of  the  latter  to  local 
self-government,  and  wrote  a  pamphlet  on  the 
subject  which  attracted  much  attention  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic.  By  the  spring  of  1775  the 
Colonies  were  in  revolt.  We  now  find  Jefferson 
in  the  Continental  Congress — the  youngest  mem 
ber  save  one.  His  arrival  had  been  anxiously 
awaited.  He  had  the  reputation  "  of  a  matchless 
pen."  Though  silent  on  the  floor,  in  committee 
"  he  was  prompt,  frank,  explicit,  and  decisive," 
Early  in  June,  1776,  a  committee,  with  Jefferson 
as  chairman,  was  appointed  to  draw  up  a  "  Decla 
ration  of  Independence."  Unanimously  urged  by 
his  associates  to  write  it,  he  did  so,  Franklin  and 
Adams,  only,  making  a  few  verbal  alterations. 
Jefferson  has  been  charged  with  plagiarism  in  the 
composition  of  this  ever-memorable  paper.  Vol 
umes  have  been  written  on  the  subject;  but  those 
who  have  investigated  the  closest,  declare  that 
the  Mecklenburg  Declaration,  from  which  he  was 
charged  with  plagiarism,  was  not  then  in  existence. 
Jefferson  distinctly  denies  having  seen  it.  Prob 
ably,  in  preparing  it,  he  used  many  of  the  popular 
phrases  of  the  time  ;  and  hence  it  was  that  it 
seized  so  quickly  and  so  irresistibly  upon  the 
public  heart.  It  was  the  crystallized  expression 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

of  the  spirit  of  the  age.  Edward  Everett  pro 
nounced  this  Declaration  "  equal  to  anything  ever 
born  on  parchment  or  expressed  in  the  visible 
siens  of  thought."  Bancroft  declares,  "  The  heart 

o  o  • 

of  Jefferson  in  writing  it,  and  of  Congress  in 
adopting  it,  beat  for  all  humanity." 

Chosen  a  second  time  to  Congress,  Jefferson 
declined  the  appointment,  in  order  that  he  might 
labor  in  re-organizing  Virginia.  He  therefore 
accepted  a  seat  in  the  Legislature,  where  he 
zealously  applied  himself  to  revising  the  funda 
mental  laws  of  the  State.  The  abolition  of  primo 
geniture  and  the  Church  establishment  was  the 
result  of  his  labors,  and  he  was  justly  proud  of 
it.  No  more  important  advance  could  have  been 
made.  It  was  a  step  from  middle-age  darkness 
into  the  broad  light  of  modern  civilization. 

In  1778,  Jefferson  procured  the  passage  of  a 
law  prohibiting  the  further  importation  of  slaves. 
The  following  year  he  was  elected  Governor, 
succeeding  Patrick  Henry  in  this  honorable  posi 
tion,  and  at  the  close  of  his  official  term  he  again 
sought  the  retirement  of  Monticello.  In  1782, 
shortly  after  the  death  of  his  beloved  wife,  he  was 
summoned  to  act  as  one  of  the  Commissioners  to 
negotiate  peace  with  England.  He  was  not 
required  to  sail,  however  ;  but,  taking  a  seat  in 
Congress,  during  the  winter  of  1783,  he,  who  had 
drawn  up  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was 
the  first  to  officially  announce  its  final  triumph. 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

At  the  next  session  of  Congress,  he  secured  the 
adoption  of  our  present  admirable  system  of  coin 
age.  As  chairman  of  a  committee  to  draft  rules 

o 

for  the  government  of  our  Northwest  Territory 
he  endeavored,  but  without  success,  to  secure  the 
prohibition  of  slavery  therefrom  forever.  In  May, 
1784,  he  was  sent  to  Europe,  to  assist  Adams  and 
Franklin  in  negotiating  treaties  of  commerce  with 
foreign  nations.  Returning  home  in  1789,  he 
received  from  Washington  the  appointment  of 
Secretary  of  State,  which  office  he  resigned  in  1 793. 
He  withdrew,  says  Marshall,  "  at  a  time  when  he 
stood  particularly  high  in  the  esteem  of  his  coun 
trymen."  His  friendship  for  France,  and  his  dis 
like  of  England ;  his  warm  opposition  to  the 
aggrandizement  of  the  central  power  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  and  his  earnest  advocacy  of  every  mea 
sure  tending  to  enlarge  popular  freedom,  had  won 
for  him  a  large  following,  and  he  now  stood  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  the  great  and  growing 
Anti-federal  party. 

Washington  declining  a  third  term,  Adams,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  succeeded  him,  Jefferson 
becoming  Vice-President.  At  the  next  election, 
Jefferson  and  Burr,  the  Republican  candidates, 
stood  highest  on  the  list.  By  the  election  law  of 
that  period,  he  who  had  the  greatest  number  of 
votes  was  to  be  President,  while  the  Vice-Presi 
dency  fell  to  the  next  highest  candidate.  Jeffer 
son  and  Burr  having  an  equal  number  of  votes, 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON.  »  j  o 

it  remained  for  the  House  of  Representatives  to 
decide  which  should  be  President.  After  a  long 
and  heated  canvass,  Jefferson  was  chosen  on  the 
thirty-sixth  ballot.  He  was  inaugurated,  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1801,  at  Washington,  whither  the 
Capitol  had  been  removed  a  few  months  pre 
viously.  In  1804,  he  was  re-elected  by  an  over 
whelming  majority.  At  the  close  of  his  second 
term,  he  retired  once  more  to  the  quiet  of  Monti- 
cello. 

The  most  important  public  measure  of  Jeffer 
son's  Administration,  to  the  success  of  which  he 
directed  his  strongest  endeavors,  was  the  pur 
chase  from  France,  ,for  the  insignificant  sum  of 
$15,000,000,  of  the  immense  Territory  of  Louisi 
ana.  It  was  during  his  Administration,  too,  that 
the  conspiracy  of  Burr  was  discovered,  and 
thwarted  by  the  prompt  and  decisive  action  of  the 
President.  Burr's  scheme  was  a  mad  one — to 
break  up  the  Union,  and  erect  a  new  empire,  with 
Mexico  as  its  seat.  Jefferson  is  regarded  as  hav 
ing  initiated  the  custom  of  removing  incumbents 
from  office  on  political  grounds  alone. 

From  the  retirement  into  which  he  withdrew  at 
the  end  of  his  second  term,  Jefferson  never 
emerged.  His  time  was  actively  employed  in 
the  management  of  his  property  and  in  his  exten 
sive  correspondence.  In  establishing  a  Univer 
sity  at  Charlottesville,  Jefferson  took  a  deep  in 
terest,  devoting  to  it  much  of  his  time  and  means. 


-T  4  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

He  was  proud  of  his  work,  and  directed  that  the 
words  "  Father  of  the  University  of  Virginia " 
should  be  inscribed  upon  his  tomb.  He  died, 
shortly  after  mid-day,  on  the  Fourth  of  July, 
1826,  a  few  hours  before  his  venerable  friend  and 
compatriot,  Adams. 

Jefferson  was  the  very  embodiment  of  the 
democracy  he  sought  to  make  the  distinctive  feat 
ure  of  his  party.  All  titles  were  distasteful  to 
him,  even  the  prefix  Mr.  His  garb  and  manners 
were  such  that  the  humblest  farmer  was  at  home 
in  his  society.  He  declared  that  in  view  of  the 
existence  of  slavery  he  "  trembled  for  his  coun 
try  when  he  remembered  that  God  is  just."  He 
was  of  splendid  physique,  being  six  feet  two  and 
a  half  inches  in  height,  but  well  built  and  sinewy. 
His  hair  was  of  a  reddish  brown,  his  countenance 
ruddy,  his  eyes  light  hazel.  Both  he  and  his  wife 
were  wealthy,  but  they  spent  freely  and  died  in 
solvent,  leaving  but  one  daughter. 

His  moral  character  was  of  the  highest  order. 

o 

Profanity  he  could  not  endure,  either  in  himself 
or  others.  He  never  touched  cards,  or  strong 
drink  in  any  form.  He  was  one  of  the  most 
generous  of  men,  lavishly  hospitable,  and  in 
everything  a  thorough  gentleman.  Gifted  with 
an  intellect  far  above  the  average,  he  had  added 
to  it  a  surprising  culture,  which  ranked  him 
among  our  most  accomplished  scholars.  To 
his  extended  learning,  to  his  ardent  love  of  lib- 


JAMES  MADISON.  ^T  5 

erty,  and  to  his  broad  and  tolerant  views,  is  due 
much,  very  much,  of  whatever  is  admirable  in  our 
institutions.  In  them  we  discern  everywhere 
traces  of  his  master  spirit. 


JAMES  MADISON. 

WHEN   Mr.  Jefferson  retired  from   the 
Presidency,  the  country  was  almost  on 
the    verge  of  war  with  Great  Britain. 
Disputes  had  arisen  in  regard   to   certain  restric 
tions  laid    by  England  upon  our  commerce.     A 
hot   discussion    also    came    up    about    the    right 
claimed    and    exercised    by   the    commanders    of 
English  war-vessels,  of  searching  American  ships 
and  of    taking  from   them  such  seamen  as  they 
mi^ht  choose  to  consider  natives  of  Great  Britain. 

o 

Many  and  terrible  wrongs  had  been  perpetrated 
in  the  exercise  of  this  alleged  right.  Hundreds 
of  American  citizens  had  been  ruthlessly  forced 
into  the  British  service. 

It  was  when  the  public  mind  was  agitated  by 
such  outrages,  that  James  Madison,  the  fourth 
President  of  the  United  States,  was  inaugurated. 
When  he  took  his  seat,  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1809,  he  lacked  but  a  few  days  of  being  fifty-eight 
years  of  age,  having  been  born  on  the  I5th  of 
March,  1751.  His  father  was  Colonel  James 
Madison,  his  mother  Nellie  Conway.  He  gradu- 


^!  6  OUR  DORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

ated  at   Princeton  College,  New  Jersey,  in  1771, 
after  which  he  studied  law. 

In  his  twenty-sixth  year  he  had  been  a  member 
of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution 
of  Virginia ;  in  1 780  had  been  elected  to  the 
Continental  Congress,  in  which  he  at  once  took  a 
commanding  position  ;  had  subsequently  entered 
the  Virginia  Legislature,  where  he  co-operated 
with  his  friend  and  neighbor,  Jefferson,  in  the  ab 
rogation  of  entail  and  primogeniture,  and  in  the 
establishment  of  religious  freedom  ;  had  drawn 
up  the  call  in  answer  to  which  the  Convention  to 
Draught  a  Constitution  for  the  United  States  met 
at  Philadelphia  in  1787,  and  had  been  one  of  the 
most  active  members  of  that  memorable  assem 
blage  in  reconciling  the  discordant  elements  of 
which  it  was  composed.  He  had  also  labored 
earnestly  to  secure  the  adoption  of  the  new  Con* 
stitution  by  his  native  State ;  had  afterward  en 
tered  Congress ;  and  when  Jefferson  became 
President,  in  March,  1801,  had  been  by  him  ap 
pointed  Secretary  of  State,  a  post  he  had  declined 
when  it  was  vacated  by  Jefferson  in  December, 
1793.  In  this  important  post  for  eight  years,  he 
won  the  highest  esteem  and  confidence  of  the 
nation.  Having  been  nominated  by  the  Repub 
licans,  he  was  in  1 808  elected  to  the  Presidency, 
receiving  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  electoral 
votes,  while  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  the  Federal  can 
didate,  received  but  forty-seven. 


JAMES  MADISON.  .  T  « 

In  1794,  he  married  Mrs.  Dorothy  Todd,  a 
young  widow  lady,  whose  bright  intelligence  and 
fascinating  manners  were  to  gain  her  celebrity  as 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  women  who  ever 
presided  over  the  domestic  arrangements  of  the 
Presidential  Mansion. 

Of  a  weak  and  delicate  constitution,  and  with 
the  habits  of  a  student,  Mr.  Madison  would  have 
preferred  peace  to  war.  But  even  he  lost  patience 
at  the  insults  heaped  upon  the  young  Republic  by 
it  ancient  mother;  and  when,  at  length,  on  the 
1 8th  of  June,  1812,  Congress  declared  war  against 
Great  Britain,  he  gave  the  declaration  his  official 
sanction,  and  took  active  steps  to  enforce  it. 
Though  disasters  in  the  early  part  of  the  war 
greatly  strengthened  the  Federal  party,  who  were 
bitterly  opposed  to  hostilities,  the  ensuing  Presi 
dential  canvass  resulted  in  the  re-election  of  Mr. 
Madison  by  a  large  majority,  his  competitor,  De 
Witt  Clinton,  receiving  eighty-nine  electoral  votes 
to  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  for  Madison. 
On  the  1 2th  of  August,  1814,  a  British  army  took 
Washington,  the  President  himself  narrowly  esca 
ping  capture.  The  Presidential  Mansion,  the  Cap 
itol,  and  all  the  public  buildings  were  wantonly 
burned.  The  1 4th  of  December  following,  a  treaty 
of  peace  was  signed  at  Ghent,  in  which,  however, 
England  did  not  relinquish  her  claim  to  the  right 
of  search.  But  as  she  has  not  since  attempted  to 
exercise  it,  the  question  may  be  regarded  as  hav 
ing  been  finally  settled  by  the  contest. 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1817,  Madison's  second 
term  having  expired,  he  withdrew  to  private  life 
at  his  paternal  home  of  Montpelier,  Orange  County, 
Va.  During  his  administration,  two  new  States 
had  been  added  to  the  Union,  making  the  total 
number  at  this  period  nineteen.  The  first  to 
claim  admittance  was  Louisiana,  in  1812.  It  was 
formed  out  of  the  Southern  portion  of  the  vast 
Territory,  purchased,  during  the  Presidency  of 
Jefferson,  from  France.  Indiana — the  second 
State — was  admitted  in  1816. 

After  his  retirement  from  office,  Mr.  Madison 
passed  nearly  a  score  of  quiet  years  at  Montpe 
lier.  With  Jefferson,  who  was  a  not  very  distant 
neighbor,  he  co-operated  in  placing  the  Charlottes- 
ville  University  upon  a  substantial  foundation.  In 
1829,  he  left  his  privacy  to  take  part  in  the  Con 
vention  which  met  at  Richmond  to  revise  the 
Constitution  of  the  State.  His  death  took  place 
on  the  28th  of  June,  1836,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year 
of  his  age. 


JAMES   MONROE. 

MADISON'S  successor  in  the  Presidential 
chair  was  James  Monroe,  whose  Admin 
istration  has  been  called  "  the  Era  of 
Good  Feeling/'  from  the  temporary  subsidence  at 
that  time  of  party  strife.     He  was  a  son  of  Spence 
Monroe,  a  planter.     He  was  born  on  his  father's 


JAMES  MONK  OE.  .  l  g 

plantation  in  Westmoreland  County,  Va.,  on  the 
28th  of  April,  1758.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he 
entered  William  and  Mary  College;  but  when, 
two  years  later,  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
called  the  Colonies  to  arms,  the  young  collegian, 
dropping  his  books,  girded  on  his  sword,  and  en 
tered  the  service  of  his  country.  Commissioned 
a  lieutenant,  he  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Harlem 
Heights  and  White  Plains.  In  the  attack  on 
Trenton  he  was  wounded  in  the  shoulder,  and  for 
his  bravery  promoted  to  a  captaincy.  Subse 
quently  he  was  attached  to  the  staff  of  Lord  Ster 
ling  with  the  rank  of  major,  and  fought  by  the 
side  of  Lafayette,  when  that  officer  was  wounded 
at  the  battle  of  Brandywine,  and  also  participated 
in  the  battles  of  Germantown  and  Monmouth. 
He  was  afterward  given  a  colonel's  commission, 
but,  being  unable  to  recruit  a  regiment,  began  the 
study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Jefferson,  then  Gover 
nor  of  Virginia. 

When  only  about  twenty-three  years  old,  he 
was  elected  to  the  Virginia  Legislature.  The  next 
year  he  was  sent  to  Congress.  On  the  expiration 
of  his  term,  having  meanwhile  married,  in  New 
York,  Miss  Kortright,  a  young  lady  of  great 
intelligence  and  rare  personal  attractions,  he  re 
turned  to  Fredericksburg,  and  commenced  prac 
tice  as  a  lawyer.  He  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
Anti-Federal  or  Republican  party,  being  thor 
oughly  democratic  in  his  ideas,  as  was  his  eminent 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

preceptor,  Jefferson.  In  i  789,  he  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate.  In  1 794,  he  was  ap 
pointed  minister-plenipotentiary  to  France,  but 
recalled  from  his  mission  two  years  later  because 
of  his  'outspoken  sympathies  with  the  republicans 
of  that  country. 

Shortly  after  his  return,  Monroe  was  elected 
Governor  of  Virginia,  which  post  he  held  for  three 
years  (1799-1802).  On  the  expiration  of  his 
official  term,  he  was  sent  to  co-operate  with  Ed 
ward  Livingston,  then  resident  Minister  at  Paris, 
in  negotiating  the  treaty  by  which  the  Territory  of 
Louisiana  was  secured  to  the  United  States.  In 
1811,  he  was  again  elected  Governor  of  Virginia, 
but  presently  resigned  to  become  Madison's  Sec 
retary  of  State. 

During  the  period  following  the  capture  of 
Washington,  September,  i8i4-March,  1815,  he 
acted  as  Secretary  of  War,  and  did  much  to  restore 
the  nation's  power  and  credit.  He  continued 
Secretary  of  State  until  March,  1817,  when  he 
became  President.  He  was  chosen  by  the  Dem 
ocratic  party,  till  then  known  as  the  Republican. 
He  received  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  elec 
toral  votes,  his  opponent,  Rufus  King,  receiving 
but  thirty-four  votes.  The  violence  of  party  spirit 
greatly  abated  during  his  first  term,  and  he  was 
re-elected  in  1821,  with  but  one  dissenting  vote 
out  of  the  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  cast  by  the 
electoral  college.  On  the  4th  of  March,,  1825,  he 


JAMES  MONROE.  42 1 

retired  to  the  quiet  and  seclusion  of  his  estate  at 
Oak  Hill,  in  Loudon  County,  Virginia. 

During  Monroe's  Administration,  the  bound 
aries  of  the  United  States  were  considerably 
enlarged  by  the  purchase  of  Florida  from  Spain. 
Five  new  States  were  also  admitted  into  the 
Union:  Mississippi,  in  1817;  Illinois,  in  1818; 
Alabama,  in  1819;  Maine,  in  1820;  and  Missouri, 
in  1821. 

The  discussion  in  Congress  over  the  admission 
of  Missouri  showed  the  existence  of  a  new  dis 
turbing  element  in  our  national  politics.  It  was 
the  question  of  the  further  extension  of  slavery  ; 
not  so  much  in  regard  to  its  moral  aspects  as  to 
its  bearing  on  the  question  of  the  balance  of  polit 
ical  power.  For  a  brief  period  two  parties,  one 
in  favor  of  and  the  other  against  admitting  any 
more  Slave  States,  filled  Congress  and  the  country 
with  angry  discussion.  This  was  quieted  for  the 
time  by  what  is  known  as  "  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise,"  which  restricted  slavery  to  the  territory 
lying  south  of  the  southern  boundary  of  Missouri. 

The  somewhat  celebrated  "  Monroe  Doctrine  " 
is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  important  results 
of  Monroe's  Administration.  It  was  enunciated 
in  his  message  to  Congress  on  the  2d  of  Decem 
ber,  1823,  and  arose  out  of  his  sympathy  for  the 
new  Republics  then  recently  set  up  in  South 
America.  In  substance  it  was,  that  the  United 
States  would  never  entangle  themselves  with  the 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

quarrels  of  Europe,  nor  allow  Europe  to  interfere 
with  the  affairs  of  this  continent. 

In  1830,  the  venerable  ex-President  went  to 
reside  with  his  son-in-law,  Samuel  L.  Gouverneur, 
in  New  York,  where  he  died  in  the  seventy-fourth 
year  of  his  age,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1831,  being  the 
third  of  our  five  Revolutionary  Presidents  to  pass 
from  earth  on  the  anniversary  of  that  memorable 
day,  which  had  contributed  so  largely  to  the 
shaping  of  their  destinies. 


JOHN   QUINCY   ADAMS, 

THE  son  of  John  Adams,  our  second  Presi 
dent,  and  himself  the  sixth  chief  executive 
of  the  Union,  was  born  at  Quincy,  Mass., 
on  the  nth  of  July,  1767.  He  enjoyed  rare 
opportunities  for  culture  from  his  mother,  who 
was  a  lady  of  very  superior  talents.  While  yet  a 
mere  boy,  he  twice  accompanied  his  father  to 
Europe,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  was  appointed 
private  secretary  to  Francis  Dana,  then  Minister 
to  Russia.  Graduating  from  Harvard  in  1788,  he 
studied  law  under  Theophilus  Parsons,  and  com 
menced  practice  in  Boston  in  1791.  In  1794,  he 
was  appointed  by  Washington  Minister  to  Holland. 
In  July,  1797,  he  married  Louisa,  daughter  of 
Joshua  Johnson,  then  American  Consul  at  London. 
In  1797,  his  father,  who  was  then  President,  gave 
him  the  mission  to  Berlin,  being  urged  to  this 


QUTNCY ADAMS. 

recognition  of  his  own  son  by  Washington,  who 
pronounced  the  younger  Adams  "  the  most  valu 
able  public  character  we  have  abroad." 

On  the  accession  of  Jefferson  to  the  Presidency, 
Mr.  Adams  was  recalled  from  Berlin.  Soon  after 
his  return,  however,  he  was  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  where  he  speedily  won  a  command 
ing  position,  ardently  supporting  Jefferson's  mea 
sures  of  resistance  against  the  arrogance  and 
insolence  of  England  in  her  encroachments  upon 
our  commerce  and  in  her  impressment  of  our 
seamen.  The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  having* 
censured  him  for  his  course,  Adams  resigned  his 
seat;  but,  in  1809,  was  selected  by  Madison  to 
represent  the  United  States  at  St.  Petersburg. 
On  the  24th  of  December,  1814,  he,  in  conjunction 
with  Clay  and  Gallatin,  concluded  the  Treaty  of 
Ghent,  which  closed  "  the  Second  War  of  Inde 
pendence."  In  1817,  he  was  recalled  to  act  as 
Secretary  of  State  for  President  Monroe. 

At  the  election  for  Monroe's  successor,  in  1824, 
party  spirit  ran  high.  The  contest  was  an  excit 
ing  one.  Of  the  two  hundred  and  sixty  electoral 
votes,  Andrew  Jackson  received  99,  John  Quincy 
Adams  84,  Wm.  H.  Crawford  41,  and  Henry 
Clay  37.  As  there  was  no  choice  by  the  people, 
the  election  devolved  upon  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives.  Here  Mr.  Clay  gave  the  vote  of 
Kentucky  to  Adarrr,  and  otherwise  promoted  his 
cause,  so  that  he  received  the  votes  of  thirteen 
States,  and  was  elected. 


FORMER 

The  Administration  of  the  younger  Adarrts  has 
been  characterized  as  the  purest  and  most 
economical  on  record.  Yet,  during  his  entire 
term,  he  was  the  object  of  the  most  rancorous  parti 
san  assaults.  He  had  appointed  Clay  as  his  Sec 
retary  of  State,  whereat  the  Jackson  men  accused 
them  both  of  "bargaining  and  corruption,"  and  in 
all  ways  disparaged  and  condemned  their  work. 
In  his  official  intercourse,  it  was  said  Adams  often 
displayed  "  a  formal  coldness  which  froze  like  an 
iceberg."  This  coldness  of  manner,  along  with 
his  advocacy  of  a  high  protective  tariff  and  the 
policy  of  internal  improvements,  and  his  known 
hostility  to  slavery,  made  him  many  bitter  enemies, 
especially  in  the  South,  and  at  the  close  of  his 
first  term  he  was  probably  the  most  unpopular 
man  who  could  have  aspired  to  the  Presidency ; 
and  yet,  in  his  contest  with  Jackson  at  that  time, 
Adams  received  eighty-three  electoral  votes,  Jack 
son  being  chosen  by  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1829,  General  Jackson 
having  been  elected  President,  Mr.  Adams  re 
tired  to  private  life;  but,  in  1831,  was  elected  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States,  where  he  took  his  seat,  pledged,  as  he  said, 
to  no  party.  He  at  once  became  the  leader  of 
that  little  band,  so  insignificant  in  numbers,  but 
powerful  in  determination  and  courage,  who,  re 
garding  slavery  as  both  a  moral  and  a  political 


JOHN  Q UINC  Y  ADAMS. 

evil,  began,  in  Congress,  to  advocate  its  abolition. 
By  his  continual  presentation  of  petitions  against 
slavery,  he  gradually  yet  irresistibly  led  the  pub 
lic  mind  to  familiarize  itself  with  the  idea  of  its 
final  extinction.  To  the  fiery  onslaughts  of  the 
Southern  members  he  opposed  a  cold  and  unim- 
passioned  front. 

In  1842,  to  show  his  consistency  in  upholding 
the  right  of  petition,  he  presented  to  Congress 
the  petition  of  some  thirty  or  forty  over-zealous 
anti-slavery  persons  for  the  dissolution  of  the 
Union.  This  brought  upon  the  venerable  ex- 
President  a  perfect  tempest  of  indignation.  Reso 
lutions  to  expel  him  were  introduced ;  but,  after 
eleven  days  of  stormy  discussion,  they  were  laid 
on  the  table.  The  intrepidity  displayed  by  "  the 
old  man  eloquent  "  was  beginning  to  tell.  Even 
those  who  most  bitterly  opposed  his  doctrines 
were  learning  to  respect  him.  When,  after  a 
season  of  illness,  he  re-appeared  in  Congress,  in 
February,  1847,  every  member  instinctively  rose 
in  his  seat  to  do  the  old  man  honor.  On  the 
2  ist  of  February,  1848,  Mr.  Adams  was  struck 
down  by  paralysis  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  He  was  taken,  senseless,  into 
an  ante-room.  Recovering  his  consciousness,  he 
looked  calmly  around,  and  said:  "This  is  the  last 
of  earth:  I  am  content."  These  were  his  last 
words.  In  an  apartment  beneath  the  dome  of  the 
Capitol  he  expired,  on  February  23d,  in  the 
eighty-first  year  of  his  age. 


426 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


ANDREW  JACKSON, 


SEVENTH  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  in  Mecklenburg  County,  North 
Carolina,  on  the  i5th  of  March,  1767.  His 
father,  who  was  a  poor  Irishman,  dying  a  few  days 
before  Andrew's  birth,  he  and  his  two  older 
brothers  were  left  to  the  care  of  his  mother. 
The  boys  had  little  schooling.  Andrew  was  a 
rude,  turbulent  lad,  at  once  vindictive  and  gener 
ous,  full  of  mischief,  but  resolute,  of  indomitable 
courage,  and  wonderfully  self-reliant.  When  but 
thirteen,  fired  by  the  death  of  his  oldest  brother, 
who  had  perished  from  heat  and  exhaustion  at 
the  Battle  of  Stono,  he  shouldered  a  musket  and 
took  part  in  the  War  of  Independence.  He  and 
his  remaining  brother  were  made  prisoners  by 
the  British,  but  were  soon  released  through  the 
exertions  of  their  mother.  It  was  during  this 
captivity  that  Andrew  received  a  wound  from  a 
British  officer  for  refusing  to  black  the  boots  of 
that  dignitary.  Both  the  released  boys  were  soon 
sent  home  with  the  small-pox,  of  which  the  elder 
died,  and  Andrew  barely  escaped  death.  The 
mother  went  next,  dying  of  ship  fever,  contracted 
while  attending  upon  the  patriot  prisoners  at 
Charleston.  Thus  left  an  orphan,  Andrew  worked 
a  short  time  in  a  saddler's  shop.  He  then  tried 
school-teaching,  and  finally  studied  law,  being 


ANDRE  W  JA CKSON.  427 

admitted  to  practice  when  but  twenty  years  old. 
At  that  time  he  was  very  commanding  in  appear 
ance,  being  six  feet  one  inch  in  height,  and  dis 
tinguished  for  courage  and  activity. 

In  1791,  Jackson  married,  at  Nashville,  where 
he  had  built  up  a  lucrative  practice,  Mrs.  Rachel 
Robards,  the  divorced  wife,  as  both  he  and  the 
lady  herself  supposed,  of  Mr.  Lewis  Robards. 
They  had  lived  together  two  years,  when  it  was 
discovered  that  Mrs.  Robards  was  not  fully  di 
vorced  at  the  time  of  her  second  marriage.  As, 
however,  the  divorce  had  subsequently  been  per 
fected,  the  marriage  ceremony  was  performed 
anew,  in  1794.  In  after  years,  this  unfortunate 
mistake  was  made  the  basis  of  many  calumni 
ous  charges  against  Jackson  by  his  partisan 
enemies. 

Tennessee  having  been  made  a  State  in  1 796, 
Jackson  was  successively  its  Representative  and 
Senator  in  Congress,  and  a  Judge  of  its  Supreme 
Court.  Resigning  his  judgeship  in  1804,  he  en 
tered  into  and  carried  on  for  a  number  of  years 
an  extensive  trading  business.  He  was  also 
elected  at  this  period  major-general  in  the  militia. 
In  1806  he  was  severely  wounded  in  a  duel  with 
Charles  Dickenson,  who  had  been  making  dis 
paraging  remarks  against  his  wife,  something 
which  Jackson  could  neither  forget  nor  forgive. 
Dickenson  fell  mortally  wounded,  and,  after  suf 
fering  intense  agony  for  a  short  time,  died.  This 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

sad  affair,  in  which  Jackson  displayed  much  vin- 
dictiveness,  made  him  for  awhile  very  unpopular. 

When,  in  1812,  war  was  declared  against  Eng 
land,  Jackson  promptly  offered  his  services  to  the 
General  Government.  During  the  summer  of 
1813  he  had  another  of  those  personal  rencontres 
into  which  his  fiery  temper  was  continually  lead 
ing  him.  In  an  affray  with  Thomas  H.  Benton,  he 
received  a  pistol-shot  in  the  shoulder  at  the  hands 
of  Benton's  brother,  from  the  effects  of  which  he 
never  fully  recovered.  He  was  still  suffering 
from  the  immediate  consequences  of  this  wound, 
when  tidings  were  received  at  Nashville  of  the 
massacre  at  Fort  Mimms  by  Creek  Indians.  Jack 
son,  regardless  of  his  wounds,  at  once  took  the 
field.  An  energetic  campaign,  in  which,  winning1 
victory  after  victory,  he  established  his  reputation 
as  one  of  our  best  military  chieftains,  ended  the 
Creek  War,  and  broke  forever  the  power  of  the 
Indian  races  in  North  America. 

In  May,  1814,  Jackson  was  made  a  major-gen 
eral  in  the  regular  army  and  became  the  acknowl 
edged  military  leader  in  the  Southwest.  New 
Orleans  being  threatened  by  the  British,  he  hast 
ened  to  defend  it.  There,  on  the  8th  of  January, 
1815,  with  less  than  five  thousand  men,  mostly 
untrained  militia,  he  repulsed  the  attack  of  a  well- 
appointed  army  of  nearly  fourteen  thousand  vet 
eran  troops,  under  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
officers  in  the  English  service.  Generals  Paken- 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 

ham  and  Gibbs,  of  the  British  forces,  were  killed, 
together  with  seven  hundred  of  their  men,  fourteen 
hundred  more  being  wounded  and  five  hundred 
taken  prisoners.  Jackson  lost  but  eight  killed  and 
fourteen  wounded.  Ten  days  later  the  enemy 
withdrew,  leaving  many  of  their  guns  behind 
them.  The  full  glory  of  Jackson's  triumph  at 
New  Orleans  partisan  rancor  subsequently  sought 
to  dim.  But  high  military  authorities,  even  in 
England,  have  sustained  the  popular  judgment 
that  it  was  a  brilliant  victory,  achieved  by  rare 
foresight,  wise  conduct,  and  undoubted  warlike 
genius. 

Jackson's  success  at  New  Orleans  gave  him 
immense  popularity.  He  received  a  vote  of 
thanks  from  Congress,  was  made  Commander-in- 
chief  of  the  southern  division  of  the  army,  and 
even  began  to  be  talked  of  as  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency.  President  Monroe  offered  him  the 
post  of  Secretary  of  War.  In  the  Seminole  War, 
which  commenced  about  the  close  of  1817,  he 
took  the  field  in  person.  He  was  successful, 
with  but  little  fighting.  His  execution  of  Arbuth- 
not  and  Armbruster,  two  British  subjects,  found 
guilty  by  a  military  court  of  inciting  the  Indians 
to  hostilities,  caused  an  angry  discussion  between 
England  and  the  United  States  which  at  one  time 
threatened  to  end  in  open  rupture.  In  Congress, 
also,  it  excited  a  warm  debate ;  but  resolutions 
censuring  the  General  were  rejected  by  the 


-  ^o  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

House,  and  came  to  no  conclusion  in  the 
Senate. 

When  Spain  ceded  Florida  to  the  Union,  Jack 
son  was  appointed  Governor  of  the  Territory. 
In  1823  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Sen 
ate  by  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee,  which,  at  the 
same  time,  nominated  him  for  the  Presidency. 
This  nomination,  though  ridiculed  on  account  of 
Jackson's  alleged  unfitness  for  the  office,  never 
theless  resulted,  at  the  ensuing  election,  in  his 
receiving  more  votes  than  any  other  single  can 
didate  ;  but  the  choice  devolving  on  the  House 
of  Representatives,  Adams,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
elected.  For  Henry  Clay's  part  in  this  success  of 
Adams,  Jackson  became  his  bitter  enemy,  stigma 
tizing  him  as  the  "  Judas  of  the  West."  In  the 
next  campaign,  however,  Jackson  achieved  a  de 
cided  triumph,  having  a  majority  of  eighty- three 
out  of  two  hundred  and  sixty-one  electoral  votes. 

In  retaliation  for  the  bitter  personal  attacks  he 
had  received  during  the  campaign,  Jackson  com 
menced  a  wholesale  political  proscription  of  his 
partisan  opponents.  Adopting  the  war-cry  of  his 
Secretary  of  State,  Marcy,  of  New  York,  that 
"to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils,"  he  initiated  that 
system,  ever  since  so  prevalent,  of  turning  out  of 
office  every  man  not  on  the  side  of  the  winning 
party.  His  veto  of  the  bill  re-chartering  the 
United  States  Bank,  which  for  a  time  caused  quite 
a  panic  in  commercial  circles,  and  his  determined 


ANDRE  IV  JA  CKSON.  *~  j 

stand  against  the  "  nullifiers,"  under  the  lead  of 
Calhoun,  who,  with  threats  of  armed  resistance, 
demanded  a  reduction  of  the  tariff,  excited  a  warm 
opposition  to  the  President.  But,  in  spite  of 
every  effort,  the  election  of  1828  brought  him 
again  into  the  Presidential  chair  with  an  over 
whelming  majority,  he  receiving  two  hundred 
and  nineteen  electoral  votes  out  of  two  hundred 
and  eighty-eight,  which  was  then  the  total  number. 

On  the  roth  of  December,  1832,  Jackson  was 
compelled  by  the  conduct  of  South  Carolina  to 
issue  a  proclamation  threatening  to  use  the  army 
in  case  of  resistance  to  the  execution  of  the  tariff 
laws ;  but,  fortunately,  Mr.  Clay  succeeded  in 
bringing  about  a  compromise,  by  which,  the  tariff 
being  modified,  the  South  Carolinians  were  ena 
bled  to  recede  from  their  position  with  becoming 
dignity. 

Jackson's  removal  of  the  deposits,  in  1833, 
caused  an  intense  excitement  throughout  the 
country.  In  Congress,  his  course  was  censured 
by  the  Senate,  but  approved  by  the  House.  A 
panic  existed  for  some  time  in  business  circles ; 
but  before  the  close  of  his  second  term  the  great 
mass  of  the  people  were  content  with  the  Presi 
dent's  course. 

Jackson's  foreign  diplomacy  had  been  very 
successful.  Useful  commercial  treaties  were 
made  with  several  countries  and  renewed  with 
others.  Indemnities  for  spoliations  on  American 


OUR  DORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

commerce  were  obtained  from  various  foreign 
countries.  The  national  debt  was  extinguished, 
the  Cherokees  were  removed  from  Georgia  and 

o 

the  Creeks  from  Florida,  while  the  original  num 
ber  of  the  States  was  doubled  by  the  admission 
into  the  Union  of  Arkansas,  in  1836,  and  of 
Michigan,  in  1837.  On  the  other  hand,  the  slavery 
dispute  was  renewed  with  much  bitterness,  and 
the  Seminole  War  re-commenced. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1837,  Jackson  retired 
from  public  life.  He  returned  to  "  the  Hermit 
age/'  his  country  seat,  where  he  remained  until 
his  death,  on  the  8th  of  June,  1845.  The  imme 
diate  cause  of  his  death  was  dropsy  ;  but  through 
the  greater  part  of  his  life  he  had  been  a  sufferer 
from  disease  in  one  form  or  another. 

General  Jackson  has  been  described  as  a  man 
of  unbounded  hospitality.  He  loved  fine  horses 
and  had  a  passion  for  racing  them.  "  His  temper," 
writes  Colonel  Benton,  "  was  placable  as  well  as 
irascible,  and  his  reconciliations  were  cordial  and 
sincere."  He  abhorred  debt,  public  as  well  as 
private.  His  love  of  country  was  a  master  pas 
sion.  "  He  was  a  thoroughly  honest  man,  as 
straightforward  in  action  as  his  thoughts  were 
unsophisticated."  Of  book-knowledge  he  pos 
sessed  little — scarcely  anything ;  but  his  vigorous 
native  intelligence  and  intuitive  judgment  carried 
him  safely  through  where  the  most  profound 
learning  without  them  would  have  failed. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. 


MARTIN   VAN   BUREN, 

THE  eighth  chief  executive  of  the  Union, 
was  the  son  of  a  thrifty  farmer  in  the  old 
town  of  Kinderhook,  in  Columbia  County, 
New  York,  where  he  was  born  on   the  5th  of 
December,    1782.       Early     evidencing     unusual 
mental   vigor,  a   good   academic    education   was 
given  to  him.     Finishing  this  at  the  age  of  four 
teen,  he  then  began  the  study  of  the  law.     After 
seven  years  of  study  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
and  commenced  to  practice   in  his  native  village. 
His  growing  reputation  and  practice  warranting 
him  in  seeking  a  wider  field,  in  1809  he  removed 
to  Hudson.     In  1812,  he  was  elected  to  the  Sen 
ate   of  New  York;    and,  in    1815,   having   been 
appointed  Attorney-General  of  the  State,  he  re 
moved  to  Albany.     In    1821,  he  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  Senate,  and  was  also  a  member 
of  the  Convention  to  revise  the   Constitution   of 
New  York.     He  speedily  rose  to  distinction  in 
the  National  Senate,  and,  in   1827,  was  re-elected 
to   that  body,   but    the   year  following    resigned 
his  seat  to  take  the  position  of  Governor  of  New 
York. 

In  1829,  General  Jackson,  whose  election  to 
the  Presidency  was  no  doubt  due  in  a  great  mea 
sure  to  the  shrewd  political  management  of  Van 
Buren,  offered  him  the  post  of  Secretary  of  State. 


A  ->  A  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

In  1831,  circumstances  making.it  necessary  for 
Jackson  to  re-organize  his  Cabinet,  Van  Buren 
resigned  his  Secretaryship,  but  was  immediately 
named  Minister  to  England.  The  Senate,  how 
ever,  greatly  to  the  President's  dissatisfaction, 
refused  to  confirm  the  nomination,  though  Van 
Buren  had  already  reached  London.  This  rejec 
tion  of  his  friend  aroused  all  of  Jackson's  deter 
mined  spirit.  He  not  only  succeeded  in  placing 
Mr.  Van  Buren  in  the  Vice-Presidency  during  his 
own  second  term,  but  he  also  began  to  work  zeal 
ously  to  obtain  Van  Buren's  nomination  as  his 
successor  in  the  Presidency.  He  triumphed,  and 
his  friend  received  the  Democratic  nomination, 
and  was  elected  by  a  handsome  majority,  taking 
his  seat  in  the  Presidential  chair  on  the  4th  of 
March,  1837. 

Shortly  after  Van  Buren's  inauguration,  a  finan 
cial  panic,  ascribed  to  General  Jackson's  desire  to 
make  specie  the  currency  of  the  country,  and  his 
consequent  war  upon  the  banks,  brought  the 
country  to  the  very  verge  of  ruin.  Failures 
came  fast  and  frequent,  and  all  the  great  indus 
tries  of  the  nation  were  paralyzed.  At  the  same 
time,  the  war  in  Florida  against  the  Serhinoles  lin 
gered  along,  without  the  slightest  apparent  pros 
pect  of  coming  to  an  end,  entailing  enormous 
expenses  on  the  Government;  while  the  anti- 
slavery  agitation,  growing  steadily  stronger,  ex- 
r.i^ed  mobs  and  violence,  and  threatened  to  shake 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN. 

the  Republic  from  its  foundations.  Rightly  or 
wrongly,  these  troubles  were  attributed  to  Presi 
dent  Van  Buren  and  his  party,  as  resulting  from 
the  policy  they  had  pursued.  His  popularity 
waned  rapidly,  and  at  the  Presidential  election  in 
1840,  in  which  he  was  a  candidate  for  re-election, 
he  was  overwhelmingly  defeated. 

Retiring  to  Lindenwald,  his  fine  estate  near 
Kinderhook,  Van  Buren,  in  1844,  endeavored  to 
procure  a  re-nomination  for  the  Presidency,  but 
was  unsuccessful,  though  a  majority  of  delegates 
was  pledged  to  support  him.  His  defeat  was  due 
to  the  opposition  of  Southern  members,  based  on 
the  fact  that  he  had  written  a  letter  adverse  to 
the  annexation  of  Texas. 

In  1848,  he  was  brought  forward  by  the  Free-soil 
Democrats.  Though  not  elected,  the  party  which 
had  nominated  him  showed  unexpected  strength, 
nearly  three  hundred  thousand  votes  having  been 
cast  in  his  favor. 

Mr.  Van  Buren  now  retired  from  public  life. 
Fourteen  years  later,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  on  the 
24th  of  July,  1862,  he  died  at  Lindenwald.  He 
was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  ability,  of  culti 
vated  manners,  and  genial  disposition.  Though 
shrewd,  he  was  not  a  dishonest  politician.  His 
private  character  was  beyond  reproach.  He  de 
serves  a  conspicuous  position  among  those  who 
have  been  worthy  successors  of  our  immortal 
first  President. 


436 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON,  ninth 
President  of  the  United  States,  was 
born  at  Berkeley,  on  the  banks  of  the 
James  River,  in  Virginia,  on  the  9th  of  February, 
1773.  His  father,  Benjamin  Harrison,  was  one  of 
the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
and  for  several  years  Governor  of  Virginia.  Hav 
ing  received  a  good  education  at  Hampden-Sid- 
ney  College,  young  Harrison  began  the  study  of 
medicine;  but  the  barbarities  of  the  savages  on 
our  northwestern  frontier  having  excited  his 
sympathies  in  behalf  of  the  suffering  settlers,  he 
determined  to  enter  the  army,  as  being  a  place 
where  he  could  do  good  service.  Accordingly,  in 
1791,  shortly  after  St.  Clair's  defeat,  he  obtained 
from  President  Washington  a  commission  as  en 
sign  in  the  artillery.  Though  winter  was  coming 
on,  he  at  once  set  out  on  foot  across  the  wilder 
ness  to  Pittsburg,  whence  he  descended  the  Ohio 
to  Fort  Washington,  now  Cincinnati.  He  soon 
became  a  favorite  with  his  superiors,  and  by  his 
bravery  in  battle  speedily  attained  the  rank  of 
captain.  In  1 797,  when  but  twenty-four  years  old, 
having  recently  married,  he  resigned  his  commis 
sion,  to  accept  the  secretaryship  of  the  Northwest 
Territory.  In  1801,  he  was  appointed  Governor 
of  "  the  Indiana  Territory,"  comprising  the  present 


WILLIAM  HENR  Y  HARRISON. 

States  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin.  This 
office  he  filled  satisfactorily  to  both  whites  and 
Indians  for  twelve  years,  during  which  time  he 
negotiated  many  excellent  treaties. 

During  the  summer  of  181 1,  the  Indians  of  the 
Northwest,  under  the  lead  of  the  celebrated  Te- 
cumseh,  and  instigated,  it  is  thought,  by  the  emis 
saries  of  England,  with  whom  we  were  upon  the 
point  of  going  to  war,  broke  out  into  open  hos 
tility.  Collecting  a  considerable  force  of  militia 
and  volunteers,  Harrison  took  the  field.  On  the 
7th  of  November,  he  encountered  and  defeated 
Tecumseh  on  the  banks  of  the  Tippecanoe  River. 
This  was  one  of  the  most  hotly  contested  battles 
ever  fought  between  the  Indians  and  the  whites. 
Its  victorious  results  added  greatly  to  Harrison's 
already  high  reputation;  and  in  1812,  after  Hull's 
ignominious  surrender  of  Detroit,  he  was  ap 
pointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  Army  of  the 
Northwest.  Invested  with  almost  absolute  power, 
he  displayed  an  energy,  sagacity,  and  courage 
which  justified  the  confidence  reposed  in  him. 
By  almost  superhuman  exertions,  he  managed  to 
collect  an  army.  Perry,  on  the  loth  of  Septem 
ber,  1813,  having  defeated  the  British  fleet  on 
Lake  Erie,  Harrison,  who  had  been  waiting  the 
course  of  events,  now  hastened  to  take  the  field. 
Crossing  into  Canada,  he  repossessed  Detroit, 
and,  pushing  on  in  pursuit  of  the  flying  enemy, 
finally  brought  them  to  a  stand  on  the  banks  of 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

the  Thames.  Here,  after  a  brief  but  sanguinary 
contest,  the  British  and  their  savage  allies  were 
defeated  with  heavy  loss.  Tecumseh,  the  leading 
spirit  of  the  Indians,  was  left  dead  on  the  field. 
Harrison's  triumph  was  complete  and  decisive. 

Shortly  after  this  victory,  which  gave  peace  to 
the  Northwest,  Harrison,  having  had  some  diffi 
culty  with  the  Secretary  of  War,  threw  up  his 
commission,  but  was  appointed  by  the  President 
to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the  Indians.  In  1816, 
he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  Congress, 
where  he  gained  considerable  reputation,  both  as 
an  active  working  member  and  as  an  eloquent 
and  effective  speaker.  In  1824,  he  was  sent  from 
Ohio  to  the  United  States  Senate.  In  1828,  he 
was  appointed  by  John  Quincy  Adams  Minister 
to  the  Republic  of  Colombia ;  but  President  Jack 
son,  who  bore  him  no  good-will,  the  following 
year  recalled  him.  On  his  return  home,  he  retired 
to  his  farm  at  North  Bend,  on  the  Ohio  River, 
and  was  presently  elected  clerk  of  the  Hamilton 
County  Court.  In  1836,  he  was  one  of  the  four 
candidates  who  ran  against  Van  Buren  for  the 
Presidency.  Jackson's  favorite,  as  we  have  seen, 
came  out  ahead  in  this  race.  But,  though  Harri 
son  was  not  elected,  there  was  such  evidence  of 
his  popularity  as  to  warrant  the  Whigs  in  uniting 
upon  him  as  their  candidate  in  the  campaign  of  1 840. 

That  campaign  was  a  memorable  one.  It  was, 
perhaps,  the  most  exciting,  yet,  at  the  same  time, 


WILLIAM  1IENR  V  HARRISON. 


439 


one  of  the  freest  from  extreme  partisan  bitterness, 
of  any  Presidential  canvass  ever  known.  As 
"  the  hero  of  Tippecanoe  "  and  "  the  log-cabin 
candidate,"  which  latter  phrase  was  first  used  in 
contempt,  Harrison  swept  everything  before  him, 
securing  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  out  of  the 
two  hundred  and  ninety-four  electoral  votes  cast, 
and  this,  too,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  Jackson 
to  prevent  his  success.  His  journey  to  be. inau 
gurated  was  one  continued  ovation.  His  inaugu 
ration,  which  took  place  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1841,  was  witnessed  by  a  vast  concourse  of  peo 
ple  from  all  parts  of  the  Union.  His  address,  by 
the  moderation  of  its  tone,  and  by  its  plain,  prac 
tical,  common-sense  views,  confirmed  his  immense 
popularity.  Selecting  for  his  Cabinet  some  of 
the  most  eminent  public  men  of  the  country,  he 
began  his  Administration  with  the  brightest  pros 
pects.  But,  in  the  midst  of  these  pleasing  antici 
pations,  he  was  suddenly  attacked  by  a  fit  of 
sickness,  which,  in  a  few  days  terminated  in  his 
death,  on  the  4th  of  April,  just  one  month  after 
his  inauguration.  His  last  words,  spoken  in  the 
delirium  of  fever,  were  characteristic  of  the  con 
scientiousness  with  which  he  had  accepted  the 
responsibilities  of  the  Presidential  office.  "  Sir," 
he  said,  as  if,  conscious  of  his  approaching  end, 
he  were  addressing  his  successor,  "  I  wish  you  to 
understand  the  principles  of  the  Government.  I 
wish  them  carried  out.  I  ask  nothing  more." 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

The  sudden  and  unexpected  death  of  President 
Harrison  threw  the  whole  country  into  mourning. 
Much  had  been  hoped  from  him,  as  one  who  had 
the  best  interests  of  every  portion  of  the  Union 
at  heart.  There  was  a  noble  simplicity  in  his 
character  which  had  won  all  hearts.  Without 
being  brilliant,  his  was  an  intellect  of  solid,  sub 
stantial  worth.  He  was  a  frank,  guileless-hearted 
man,  of  incorruptible  integrity,  and  stands  forth 
among  our  Presidents,  brief  as  was  his  official 
term,  as  a  noble  representative  of  the  plain,  prac 
tical,  honest  yeomanry  of  the  land.  "  Not  one 
single  spot,"  says  Abbott,  "  can  be  found  to  sully 
the  brightness  of  his  fame ;  and  through  all  the 
ages,  Americans  will  pronounce  with  love  and 
reverence  the  name  of  William  Henry  Harrison." 


JOHN  TYLER. 

ON   the  death  of  General   Harrison,  April 
4th,  1841,  for  the  first  time  in  our  history 
the  administration  of  the  Government  de 
volved  on   the  Vice-President.     The  gentleman 
thus  elevated   to  the  Presidency  was  John  Tyler, 
the   son  of  a  wealthy  landholder  of  Virginia,  at 
one   time    Governor    of  that    State.       Born    in 
Charles   City  County,  March    29th,    1 790,   young 
Tyler,  at  the  age   of  seventeen,  graduated  from 
William  and  Mary  College  with  the  reputation  of 


JOHN  TYLER. 

having  delivered  the  best  commencement  oration 
ever  heard  by  the  faculty.  When  only  nineteen 
he  began  to  practice  law,  rising  to  eminence  in 
his  profession  with  surprising  rapidity.  Two 
years  later  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature. 
After  serving  five  successive  terms  in  the  Legis 
lature,  he  was,  in  1816,  in  1817,  and  again  in 
1819,  elected  to  Congress.  Compelled  by  ill- 
health  to  resign  his  seat  in  Congress,  he  was,  in 
1825,  chosen  Governor  of  the  State.  In  1827,  he 
was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  over  the 
celebrated  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke. 

During  the  whole  of  his  Congressional  career, 
Mr.  Tyler  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  strict 
construction  doctrines  of  the  then  Democratic 
party,  opposing  the  United  States  Bank,  a  protec 
tive  tariff,  internal  improvements  by  the  General 
Government,  and,  in  short,  all  measures  tending 
to  the  centralization  of  power.  He  was  also  an 
ardent  opponent  of  any  restrictions  upon  slavery, 
and  avowed  his  sympathies  with  the  nullification 
theories  of  Calhoun.  On  this  last  subject  he 
finally  came  into  the  opposition  against  Jackson. 
In  the  session  of  1 833-^4,  he  voted  for  Clay's 
resolutions  censuring  Jackson  for  his  removal  of 
the  deposits.  In  1836,  when  the  Virginia  Legis 
lature  instructed  its  representatives  in  Congress 
to  vote  for  the  rescinding  of  these  resolutions, 
Mr.  Tyler,  who  had  early  committed  himself  to 
the  right  of  instruction,  could  not  conscientiously 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

comply  with  the  request  of  the  Legislature,  nor 
hold  his  seat  in  disregard  of  its  mandate,  and  ac 
cordingly  resigned.  In  1838,  he  was  again  sent 
to  the  Legislature,  and,  in  1839,  we  find  him  a 
delegate  to  the  Whig  National  Convention, 
which,  at  Harrisburg,  nominated  Harrison  and 
himself  as  candidates  for  President  and  Vice- 
President.  Of  the  campaign  which  followed,  and 
of  the  subsequent  death  of  Harrison,  we  have 
already  given  an  account. 

On  receiving  tidings  of  the  President's  death, 
Mr.  Tyler  hastened  to  Washington,  and,  on  the 
6th  of  April,  was  inaugurated,  and  he  retained 
all  the  Cabinet  officers  Harrison  had  appointed. 
Three  days  later,  he  issued  an  inaugural  address, 
which  was  well  received,  both  by  the  public  and 
by  his  partisan  friends,  who,  knowing  his  antece 
dents,  had  been  somewhat  dubious  as  to  what 
policy  he  would  pursue.  But  this  was  only  the 
calm  before  the  storm.  Tyler's  veto  of  the  bill 
for  a  "  fiscal  bank  of  the  United  States,"  led  to  a 
complete  rupture  with  the  party  by  which  he  had 
been  elected,  who  charged  him  with  treachery  to 
his  principles.  Attempting  conciliation,  he  only 
displeased  the  Democrats,  who  had  at  first  shown 
a  disposition  to  stand  by  him,  without  regaining 
the  favor  of  the  Whigs.  In  consequence  of  this 
course  of  action,  Tyler's  Cabinet  all  resigned, 
and  in  their  places  several  Democrats  were  ap 
pointed. 


JOHN  TYLER. 

During  his  Administration  several  very  impor 
tant  measures  were  adopted.  Among"  them  the 
act  establishing  a  uniform  system  of  bankruptcy, 
passed  in  1841,  the  tariff  law  of  1842,  and  the 
scheme  for  the  annexation  of  Texas,  which,  by  the 
vigorous  efforts  of  the  President,  was  brought  to 
a  successful  issue  by  the  passage  of  joint  resolu 
tions  in  Congress,  on  the  ist  of  March,  1845,  just 
three  days  before  the  close  of  his  term.  The 
formal  act  of  annexation,  however,  was  not  passed 
until  a  later  period.  One  new  State — Florida — 
was  also  admitted  into  the  Union  under  Mr. 
Tyler's  Administration,  in  1845. 

After  his  retirement  from  the  Presidency,  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1845,  Mr-  Tyler  remained  in 
private  life  at  his  beautiful  home  of  Sherwood 
Forest,  in  Charles  City  County,  till,  in  1861,  he 
appeared  as  a  member  of  the  Peace  Convention, 
composed  of  delegates  from  the  "  Border  States," 
which  met  at  Washington  to  endeavor  to  arrange 
terms  of  compromise  between  the  seceded  States 
and  the  General  Government.  Of  this  Conven 
tion,  which  accomplished  nothing,  he  was  presi 
dent. 

Subsequently,  Mr.  Tyler  renounced  his  alle 
giance  to  the  United  States,  and  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  Confederate  Congress.  While 
acting  in  this  capacity  he  was  taken  sick  at  Rich 
mond,  where  he  died  after  a  brief  illness,  on  the 
17th  of  January,  1862. 


A  A  A  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK. 

MECKLENBURG  County,  North  Caro 
lina,  has  the  distinction  of  being  the 
birthplace  of  two  Presidents  of  the 
United  States — Andrew  Jackson  and  James  Knox 
Polk — the  latter  of  whom  was  born  there  on  the 
2d  of  November,  1795.  Like  his  friend  and 
neighbor,  General  Jackson,  Mr.  Polk  was  of 
Scotch-Irish  descent.  It  was  his  great-uncle,  Col 
onel  Thomas  Polk,  who,  on  the  igth  of  May,  1775, 
read  from  the  steps  of  the  court-house,  at  Char 
lotte,  that  famous  "  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of 
Independence,"  to  which  reference  has  been  made 
in  our  sketch  of  Jefferson.  James  at  a  very  early 
age  manifested  decided  literary  tastes.  After  a 
vain  attempt  to  induce  him  to  become  a  store 
keeper,  his  father  finally  consented  to  his  enter 
ing  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  at  Chapel 
Hill,  from  which,  in  his  twenty-third  year,  he  grad 
uated  with  the  highest  honors.  Studying  law  at 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  where  he  renewed  a  former 
acquaintance  with  General  Jackson,  he  was  ad 
mitted  to  the  bar,  and  commenced  practice  at 
Columbia. 

In  1823,  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  of 
Tennessee,  and  during  the  following  year  was 
married  to  Miss  Sarah  Childress,  a  beautiful  and 
accomplished  young  lady,  of  refined  manners  and 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK. 

rare  social  gifts.  In  the  fall  of  1825,  he  was 
elected  to  Congress,  where  he  remained  the  next 
fourteen  years,  during  five  sessions  occupying  the 
responsible  and  honorable  position  of  Speaker  of 
the  House,  the  duties  of  which  he  performed  with 
a  dignity  and  dispassionateness  which  won  for  him 
the  warmest  encomiums  from  all  parties.  In  1839, 
he  was  chosen  Governor  of  Tennessee.  Again  a 
candidate  in  1841,  and  also  in  1843,  he  was  both 
times  defeated, — a  result  due  to  one  of  those 
periodical  revolutions  in  politics  which  seem  in 
separable  from  republican  forms  of  government, 
rather  than  to  Mr.  Folk's  lack  of  personal  popu 
larity. 

As  the  avowed  friend  of  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  Mr.  Polk,  in  1844,  was  nominated  by  the 
Democrats  for  the  Presidency.  Though  he  had 
for  his  opponent  no  less  a  person  than  the  great 
and  popular  orator  and  statesman,  Henry  Clay,  he 
received  one  hundred  and  seventy  out  of  two  hun 
dred  and  seventy-five  votes  in  the  electoral  col 
lege.  He  was  inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  March, 
1845.  Three  clays  previously,  his  predecessor, 
John  Tyler,  had  signed  the  joint  resolutions  of 
Congress  favoring  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the 
United  States.  Consequently,  at  the  very  begin 
ning  of  his  Administration,  Mr.  Polk  found  the 
country  involved  in  disputes  with  Mexico,  which, 
on  the  formal  annexation  of  Texas,  in  December, 
1845,  threatened  to  result  in  hostilities  between 


446 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


the  two  countries.  General  Zachary  Taylor  was 
sent  with  a  small  army  to  occupy  the  territory 
stretching  from  the  Neuces  to  the  Rio  Grande, 
which  latter  stream  Texas  claimed  as  her  western 
boundary.  Mexico,  on  the  other  hand,  declaring 
that  Texas  had  never  extended  further  west  than 
the  Neuces,  dispatched  a  force  to  watch  Taylor. 
A  slight  collision,  in  April,  1846,  was  followed,  a 
few  days  later,  by  the  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and 
Resaca  de  la  Palma,  in  which  General  Taylor  was 
victorious.  When  the  tidings  of  these  battles 
reached  Washington,  the  President,  on  May  nth, 
sent  a  special  message  to  Congress,  declaring 
"  that  war  existed  by  the  act  of  Mexico,"  and  ask 
ing  for  men  and  money  to  carry  it  on.  Congress 
promptly  voted  ten  million  dollars,  and  authorized 
the  President  to  call  out  fifty  thousand  volun 
teers.  Hostilities  were  prosecuted  vigorously.  An 
American  army,  under  General  Scott,  finally  fought 
its  way  to  the  capture  of  the  City  of  Mexico.  On 
the  2d  of  February,  1848,  the  treaty  of  Guada- 
loupe  Hidalgo  was  signed,  and  ratified  by  the 
Senate  on  the  loth  of  March  following,  by  which 
New  Mexico  and  Upper  California,  comprising  a 
territory  of  more  than  half  a  million  square  miles, 
were  added  to  the  United  States.  In  return,  the 
United  States  agreed  to  pay  Mexico  fifteen  mil 
lion  of  dollars,  and  to  assume  the  debts  due  by 
Mexico  to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  amount 
ing  to  three  and  a  half  millions  more. 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK.  447 

Besides  Texas,  two  other  States  were  admitted 
into  the  Union  during  Mr.  Folk's  Administration. 
These  were  Iowa  and  Wisconsin — the  former  in 
1846  and  the  latter  in  1848. 

When  the  war  with  Mexico  first  broke  out, 
negotiations  were  pending  between  England  and 
the  United  States,  in  regard  to  Oregon,  which  we 
had  long  deemed  a  portion  of  our  own  territory. 
"  Fifty-four  forty  [54°  40']  or  fight !"  had  been  one 
of  the  Democratic  battle-cries  during  the  canvass 
which  resulted  in  Mr.  Folk's  election,  and  he,  in 
his  inaugural,  had  maintained  that  our  title  to 
Oregon  was  unquestionable.  England,  however, 
still  urged  her  claim  to  the  whole  country.  After 
considerable  negotiation,  the  President  finally,  as 
an  amicable  compromise,  offered  the  boundary  of 
the  parallel  of  49°,  giving  Vancouver's  Island  to 
Great  Britain.  His  offer  was  accepted,  and  war 
perhaps  avoided.  Another  important  measure  of 
Mr.  Folk's  Administration  was  a  modification  of 
the  tariff,  in  1846,  by  which  its  former  protective 
features  were  much  lessened. 

On  his  nomination,  in  1 844,  Mr.  Polk  had  pledged 
himself  to  the  one-term  principle.  Consequently 
he  was  not  a  candidate  for  re-election  in  1848. 
Having  witnessed  the  inauguration  of  his  suc 
cessor,  General  Taylor,  he  returned  to  his  home 
near  Nashville.  "  He  was  then,"  says  Abbott, 
but  fifty-four  years  of  age.  He  had  ever  been 
strictly  temperate  in  his  habits,  and  his  health  was 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

good.  With  an  ample  fortune,  a  choice  library,  a 
cultivated  mind,  and  domestic  ties  of  the  dearest 
nature,  it  seemed  as  though  long  years  of  tran 
quillity  and  happiness  were  before  him."  But  it 
was  not  so  to  be.  On  his  way  home  he  felt  pre 
monitory  symptoms  of  cholera,  and  when  he 
reached  there  his  system  was  much  weakened. 
Though  at  first  able  to  work  a  little  in  superin 
tending  the  fitting  up  of  his  grounds,  he  was  soon 
compelled  to  take  to  his  bed.  He  never  rose 
from  it  again.  Though  finally  the  disease  was 
checked,  he  hacl  not  strength  left  to  bring  on  the 
necessary  reaction.  "  He  died  without  a  struggle, 
simply  ceasing  to  breathe,  as  when  deep  and  quiet 
sleep  falls  upon  a  weary  man,"  on  the  I5th  of 
June,  1849,  a  little  more  than  three  months  after 
his  retirement  from  the  Presidency.  His  remains 
lie  in  the  spacious  lawn  of  his  former  home,  where 
his  widow  still  lives  (1884). 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR, 

TWELFTH  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  in  Orange  County,  Virginia,  No 
vember  24th,  1 784.  His  father,  Colonel  Rich 
ard  Taylor,  was  a  noted    Revolutionary  officer. 
His  mother,  as  is  usually  the   case  with  the  moth 
ers  of  men  who  have   risen  to   distinction,  was  a 
woman  of  great  force  of  character.      Whilst  he 


THE  FAMOUS  EAST  ROOM  OF  THE  WHITE  HOUSE. 


THE  WHITE  HOUSE-HOME  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS, 


ZA  CHAR  Y  TA  YL  OR.  ^ c  l 

was  yet  an  infant,  his  parents  removed  to  the  then 
wilderness  near  the  present  city  of  Louisville. 
Here  in  the  depths  of  the  forest  swarming  with 
hostile  savages,  young  Taylor  found  few  educa 
tional  advantages,  though  the  training  he  received 
was  no  doubt  one  to  develop  those  military  qual 
ities  he  subsequently  displayed.  He  grew  up  a 
rugged,  brave,  self-reliant  youth,  with  more  of  a 
certain  frank,  almost  blunt,  off-handedness,  than 
exterior  polish. 

In  1808,  he  received  a  lieutenant's  commission 
in  the  army,  and  in  1810  married  Margaret  Smith. 
His  military  career  fairly  opened  in  1812,  when 
he  was  sent  to  the  defense  of  our  western  border. 
While  in  command  of  Fort  Harrison,  on  the 
Wabash,  with  a  garrison  of  but  fifty-two  men,  he 
was  suddenly  attacked  by  a  band  of  Indians,  who 
succeeded  in  setting  fire  to  the  fort.  But  the 
young  captain  with  his  handful  of  men  extinguished 
the  flames,  and  forced  the  enemy  to  retreat.  For 
this  gallant  exploit,  he  received  a  brevet  major's 
commission. 

Nothing  remarkable  occurred  in  his  life  for 
many  years  subsequent,  until,  in  1837,  we  find 
him  a  colonel  in  Florida,  operating  against  the 
Seminoles.  On  Christmas  Day  of  that  year  he 
won  the  battle  of  Okechobee,  one  of  the  most 
fiercely  contested  actions  in  the  annals  of  Indian 
warfare.  The  Seminoles  never  rallied  again  in 
formidable  numbers.  For  his  signal  services  in 


452  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

this  affair  Taylor  was  made  a  brigadier,  and  ap 
pointed  Commander-in-chief.  This  post  he  retained 
till  1840,  when,  having  purchased  an  estate  near 
Baton  Rouge,  in  Louisiana,  he  was,  at  his  own 
request,  placed  in  the  command  of  the  Department 
of  the  Southwest. 

While  still  holding  this  command  in  the  spring 
of  1845,  Congress  having  passed  joint  resolutions 
for  the  annexation  of  Texas,  General  Taylor  was 
sent  with  four  thousand  troops  to  Corpus  Christi, 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Neuces,  and  in  territory 
claimed  by  both  Mexico  and  Texas.  It  has  been 
said  that  it  was  the  secret  object  of  our  Govern 
ment  to  provoke  a  conflict  with  Mexico,  yet  so 
that  the  responsibility  of  it  should  appear  to  rest 
upon  General  Taylor.  If  such  was  the  object, 
the  scheme  signally  failed.  Taylor  made  no  move 
without  explicit  orders.  It  was  by  the  President's 
positive  command  that,  on  the  8th  of  March,  1846, 
the  wary  old  General  began  his  march  into  the 
disputed  district  lying  between  the  Neuces  and 
the  Rio  Grande.  Reaching  the  latter  stream  on 

o 

the  28th,  he  built  Fort  Brown  immediately  oppo 
site  the  Mexican  town  of  Matamoras.  On  the 
1 2th  of  March  the  Mexican  commander  peremp 
torily  ordered  Taylor  to  retire  beyond  the  Neuces. 
A  refusal  to  do  this,  he  said,  would  be  regarded 
as  a  declaration  of  war.  General  Taylor  replied 
that  his  instructions  would  not  permit  him  to 
retire,  and  that  if  the  Mexicans  saw  fit  to  com- 


ZACHARY  TA  YLOR.  ,~~ 

mence  hostilities  he  would  not  shrink  from  the 
conflict.  Six  thousand  Mexicans  at  once  crossed 
the  Rio  Grande.  With  less  than  three  thousand 
troops,  Taylor,  on  the  8th  of  April,  attacked  and 
defeated  them  at  Palo  Alto.  Rallying  in  a  strong 
position  at  Resaca  de  la  Palma,  the  Mexicans 
were  again  attacked,  and  after  a  stubborn  fight 
driven  back  across  the  river  with  great  loss.  These 
victories  were  hailed  with  the  wildest  enthusiasm 
throughout  the  country,  and  Taylor  was  promoted 
to  a  major-generalship. 

Moving  rapidly  forward  to  Monterey,  he  took 
that  strongly  fortified  city,  after  a  desperate  fight 
of  three  days.  Making  it  his  headquarters,  the 
victor  was  preparing  for  an  important  move,  when 
General  Scott,  who  was  about  to  lead  an  expedi 
tion  against  Vera  Cruz,  took  away  the  best  part 
of  his  troops,  leaving  him  with  only  five  thousand 
men,  mostly  raw  volunteers.  Hearing  of  this, 
Santa  Anna,  undoubtedly  the  ablest  of  the  Mexican 
generals,  with  twenty  thousand  picked  men, 
pushed  rapidly  down  the  Rio  Grande  with  the 
design  of  overpowering  Taylor's  little  army.  The 
latter,  on  the  2ist  of  February,  '1847,  took  position 
at  Buena  Vista  and  awaited  the  approach  of  his 
antagonist,  who  made  his  appearance  the  following 
day,  and  at  once  began  a  fierce  attack.  Never 
was  battle  fought  with  more  desperate  courage 
or  greater  skill.  Three  times  during  the  day 
victory  seemed  with  the  Mexicans  ;  but  finally  the 


OUR  DORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

stubborn  valor  of  Taylor's  little  band  won  the 
field. 

The  tidings  of  this  brilliant  victory  excited  the 
greatest  enthusiasm  and  gained  an  imperishable 
renown  for  the  triumphant  General.  On  his  re 
turn  home  in  November,  "  Old  Rough  and  Ready," 
as  his  soldiers  familiarly  called  him,  was  greeted 
everywhere  by  the  warmest  demonstrations  of 
popular  applause.  Even  before  this  he  had  been 
nominated  at  public  meetings  for  the  Presidency ; 
and  now  the  Whigs,  casting  about  for  a  popular 
candidate,  made  him  their  party  nominee.  Not 
withstanding  the  defection  from  their  ranks  of 
Henry  Wilson  and  others,  who  were  opposed  to 
Taylor  as  being  a  slave-holder,  he  was  elected  by 
a  respectable  majority,  receiving  one  hundred  and 
sixty-three  electoral  votes.  His  inauguration 
took  place  on  Monday,  March  5th,  1849. 

Though  he  selected  an  excellent  Cabinet,  the 
old  soldier  found  himself  in  a  trying  position.  A 
vehement  struggle  had  commenced  in  Congress 
about  the  organization  of  the  new  Territories,  the 
admission  of  California,  and  the  settlement  of  the 
boundary  between  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  all 
these  questions  being  connected  with  the  great 
and  absorbing  one  of  the  extension  or  non-ex 
tension  of  slavery.  Taylor,  in  his  message  to 
Congress,  recommended  the  admission  of  Cali- 

c5 

fornia  as  a  free  State,  and  that  the  remaining 
Territories  should  be  allowed  to  form  State  Con- 


MILLARD  FILLMORE.  .*  + 

stitutions  to  suit  themselves.  Nothing  could  have 
been  more  distasteful  to  the  extremists  of  the 
South,  many  of  whom  made  open  threats  of  seces 
sion  in  case  of  the  adoption  of  the  President's 
suggestions.  To  adjust  the  difficulty,  Mr.  Clay, 
in  the  Senate,  introduced  his  "  compromise  mea 
sures,"  which  were  still  under  debate,  when,  on 
the  4th  of  July,  1850,  General  Taylor  was  seized 
with  bilious  fever,  of  which  he  died  on  the  Qth  at 
the  Presidential  Mansion.  His  last  words  were  : 
"  I  have  tried  to  do  my  duty." 


MILLARD   FILLMORE. 

ON  the  death  of  General  Taylor,  his  suc 
cessor,  according  to  the  Constitution,  was 
the  Vice-President.  The  gentleman  then 
filling  that  position  was  Millard  Fillmore,  an  emi 
nent  lawyer  of  New  York.  He  was  compara 
tively  a  young  man,  having  been  born  on  the  yth 
of  January,  1800,  at  Summer  Hill,  Cayuga  County, 
New  York.  His  father  being  poor,  his  means  of 
education  had  been  limited.  Apprenticed  at  the 
age  of  fourteen  to  a  clothier,  he  found  time  during 
his  evenings  to  gratify  an  insatiable  thirst  for 
knowledge  by  reading.  His  studious  habits,  fine 
personal  appearance,  and  gentlemanly  bearing 
having  attracted  the  attention  of  a  lawyer  in  the 
neighborhood,  that  gentleman  offered  to  receive 


FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

him  in  his  office  and  to  assist  him  pecuniarily 
until  he  should  be  admitted  to  the  bar.  This  offer 
young  Fillmore,  then  in  his  nineteenth  year,  thank- 
fully  accepted.  With  this  help,  and  by  teaching 
during  the  winters,  he  was  enabled  to  prosecute 
his  studies  to  a  successful  issue,  and  in  1823  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  opening  an  office  in  the  vil 
lage  of  Aurora,  New  York.  In  1826,  he  married 
Miss  Abigail  Powers,  a  lady  of  eminent  worth. 

Mr.  Fillmore  steadily  rose  in  his  profession. 
In  1829,  he  was  elected  by  the  Whigs  to  the  State 
Legislature,  and  soon  afterward  removed  to  Buf 
falo.  In  1832,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  Con 
gress,  and  again  in  1837,  but  declined  running  a 
third  time.  He  now  had  a  wide  reputation,  and 
in  the  year  1847  was  elected  State  Comptroller 
and  removed  to  Albany.  The  following  year,  he 
was  placed  in  nomination  as  Vice-President  on  the 
ticket  with  General  Taylor.  When,  on  the  5th  of 
March,  1849,  Taylor  took  the  Presidential  chair, 
Mr.  Fillmore,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  became 
President  of  the  United  States  Senate.  Here,  the 
first  presiding  officer  to  take  so  firm  a  step,  he 
announced  his  determination,  in  spite  of  all  prece 
dents  to  the  contrary,  to  promptly  call  Senators  to 
order  for  any  offensive  words  they  might  utter  in 
debate. 

When,  after  the  unexpected  death  of  General 
Taylor,  on  July  9th,  1850,  the  office  of  chief  ex 
ecutive  devolved  upon  Mr.  Fillmore,  he  found 


M1LLARD  FILLMORE. 


457 


his  position  no  easy  or  pleasant  one.  His  political 
opponents  had  a  majority  in  both  houses  of  Con 
gress.  The  controversy  on  the  slavery  question 
had  embittered  public  feeling,  and  it  required  a 
skillful  pilot  to  guide  the  ship  of  state  safely  through 
the  perils  by  which  she  was  surrounded.  The  com 
promise  measures  of  Mr.  Clay,  to  which  we  have 
already  referred  in  our  sketch  of  General  Taylor, 
were  finally  passed,  and  received  the  approving 
signature  of  Mr.  Fillmore.  One  of  these  meas 
ures  was  the  admission  of  California  as  a  free 
State  ;  another  was  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  These  were  thought  to  be 
concessions  to  the  cause  of  freedom ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  to  satisfy  the  pro-slavery  agitators, 
a  bill  was  passed  to  give  the  owners  of  slaves 
power  to  recapture  fugitive  slaves  in  any  part  of 
the  free  States  and  carry  them  back  without  a  jury 
trial.  But,  though  enacted  in  the  hope  of  allay 
ing  sectional  animosity,  these  measures  brought 
about  only  a  temporary  calm,  while  they  aggra 
vated  the  violence  of  extremists  both  North  and 
South. 

The  compromise  measures  and  the  fitting  out 
of  the  famous  Japan  expedition  were  the  principal 
features  of  Mr.  Fillmore's  otherwise  uneventful 
Administration.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1853,  he 
retired  from  office,  and  immediately  afterward 
took  a  long  tour  through  the  Southern  States, 
where  he  met  with  a  cordial  reception. 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

In  1855,  Mr.  Fillmore  visited  Europe.  He  wa.- 
everywhere  received  with  those  marks  of  atten 
tion  which,  according  to  European  ideas,  are  due 
to  those  who  have  occupied  the  most  distinguished 
positions.  On  his  return  home,  in  1856,  he  was 
nominated  for  the  Presidency  by  the  so-called 
"Know-nothing,"  or  "American  "  party;  but  being 
very  decidedly  defeated,  he  retired  to  private  life. 
He  died  at  Buffalo,  New  York,  on  the  8th  of 
March,  1874. 


FRANKLIN   PIERCE, 

FOURTEENTH  President  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  at  Hillsborough,  N.  HM 
November  23d,  1804.  His  father,  General 
Benjamin  Pierce,  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution, 
and  was  a  man  of  considerable  local  repute,  hav 
ing  also  served  as  Governor  of  New  Hampshire. 
Graduating  from  Bowdoin  College  in  1824,  Mr. 
Pierce  studied  law  with  the  celebrated  Levi 
Woodbury,  and  commenced  practice  in  his  native 
town  in  1837.  He  married  in  1834.  He  early 
entered  the  political  field  and,  in  1833,  after  hav 
ing  previously  served  several  terms  in  the  State 
Legislature,  was  elected  to  Congress.  Here  he 
showed  himself  an  earnest  State-rights  Democrat, 
and  was  regarded  as  a  fair  working  member.  In 
1837,  when  but  thirty-three  years  of  age,  he  was 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 

elected  to  the  National  Senate  and,  during  the 
following  year,  removed  to  Concord,  where  he  at 
once  took  rank  among  the  leading  lawyers  of  the 
State. 

Though  Mr.  Pierce  had  declined  the  office  of 
Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  offered 
to  him  by  President  Polk,  he,  nevertheless,  when 
hostilities  were  declared  against  Mexico,  accepted 
a  brigadier-generalship  in  the  army,  successfully 
marching  with  twenty-four  hundred  men  from  the 
sea-coast  to  Puebla,  where  he  reinforced  General 
Scott.  The  latter,  on  the  arrival  of  Pierce,  imme 
diately  prepared  to  make  his  long-contemplated 
attack  upon  the  City  of  Mexico.  At  the  battle  of 
Contreras,  on  the  iQth  of  August,  1847,  where  he 


led  an  assaulting  column  four  thousand  strong, 
General  Pierce  showed  himself  to  be  a  brave  and 
energetic  soldier.  Early  in  the  fight  his  leg  was 
broken  by  his  horse  falling  upon  him,  yet  he  kept 
his  saddle  during  the  entire  conflict,  which  did  not 
cease  till  eleven  o'clock  at  night.  The  next  day 
also,  he  took  part  in  the  still  more  desperate  fight 
at  Churubusco,  where,  overcome  by  pain  and 
exhaustion,  he  fainted  on  the  field.  At  Molino 
Del  Rey,  where  the  hottest  battle  of  the  war  was 
fought,  he  narrowly  escaped  death  from  a  shell 
which  bursted  beneath  his  horse. 

The  American  army  triumphantly  entered  the 
City  of  Mexico  on  the  I3th  of  September,  1847. 
General  Pierce  remained  there  until  the  following 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

December,  when  he  returned  home  and  resumed 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  the  Democratic 
Convention  which  met  at  Baltimore,  June  ist, 
1852,  Cass,  Buchanan,  and  Douglas  were  the 
prominent  candidates.  After  thirty-five  indecisive 
ballots  Franklin  Pierce  was  proposed,  and  on  the 
forty-ninth  ballot  he  was  nominated  for  the  Presi 
dency.  He  was  elected  by  an  overwhelming 
majority,  and  was  inaugurated  Chief  Magistrate 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1853,  receiving  two  hundred 
and  fifty-four  electoral  votes,  while  his  opponent, 
General  Winfield  Scott,  received  but  forty-two. 

Though  both  the  great  parties  of  the  country 
had  adopted  platforms  favoring  the  recent  com 
promise  measures  of  Clay,  and  deprecating  any 
renewal  of  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question, 
General  Pierce's  Administration,  by  reason  of  the 
bringing  up  of  that  very  question,  was  one  of  the 
most  stormy  in  our  history.  Douglas's  bill  for  the 
organization  of  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  by  which 
the  Missouri  Compromise  Act  of  1 8  20  was  repealed 
allowing  slavery  to  enter  where  it  had  been  for 
ever  excluded,  and  which,  having  the  support  of 
the  President,  became  a  law  on  the  last  day  of 
May,  1853,  excited  the  most  intense  indignation 
in  the  free  States,  and  greatly  increased  the 
strength  of  the  anti-slavery  power.  In  Kansas  a 
bitter  contest,  almost  attaining  the  proportions 
of  civil  war,  began  between  the  partisans  of 
the  South  and  the  North.  This  contest  was 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 


46! 


still  raging  when  Mr.  Pierce's  term  drew  to  its 
close.  Other  events  of  his  Administration  were  the 
bombardment  of  Greytown,  in  Central  America, 
under  orders  from  our  Government ;  efforts 
under  Government  direction  for  the  acquisition 
of  Cuba ;  and  the  use  of  the  President's  official 
influence  and  patronage  against  the  Anti-Slavery 
settlers  of  Kansas. 

His  friends  sought  to  obtain  his  nomination  for 

o 

a  second  term,  but  did  not  succeed.  On  the  4th  of 
March,  1857,  therefore,  he  retired  to  his  home  at 
Concord.  That  home,  already  bereaved  by  the 
loss  of  three  promising  boys — his  only  children, 
— was  now  to  have  a  still  greater  loss, — that  of 
the  wife  and  afflicted  mother,  who,  grief-stricken 
at  the  sudden  death,  by  a  railroad  accident,  of  her 
last  boy,  sunk  under  consumption,  leaving  Mr. 
Pierce  alone  in  the  world — wifeless  as  well  as 
childless. 

The  sorrowing  ex-President  soon  after  took  a 
trip  to  Madeira,  and  made  a  protracted  tour  in 
Europe,  returning  home  in  1860.  During  the 
Civil  War  he  delivered  in  Concord  a  speech,  still 
known  as  the  "  Mausoleum  of  Hearts  Speech," 
in  which  he  is  regarded  as  having  expressed  a 
decided  sympathy  for  the  Confederates.  He  died 
at  Concord  on  the  8th  of  October,  1869,  having 
lost  much  of  his  hold  on  the  respect  of  his  fellow- 
citizens,  both  North  and  South,  by  his  lack  of 
decision  for  either. 


462 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


JAMES   BUCHANAN, 


FIFTEENTH  President  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  in  Franklin  County,  Pa.,  April 
22d,  1791.  His  father,  a  native  of  the 
North  of  Ireland,  who  had  come  eight  years  before 
to  America,  with  no  capital  but  his  strong  arms 
and  energetic  spirit,  was  yet  able  to  give  the 
bright  and  studious  boy  a  good  collegiate  educa 
tion  at  Dickinson  College,  Carlisle,  Pa.,  where  he 
graduated  in  1809.  He  then  began  the  study  of 
law  at  Lancaster,  and,  after  a  three  years'  course, 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  1812.  He  rose  rap 
idly  in  his  profession,  the  business  of  which  in 
creased  with  his  reputation,  so  that,  at  the  age  of 
forty,  he  was  enabled  to  retire  with  an  ample 
fortune. 

Mr.  Buchanan  early  entered  into  politics. 
When  but  twenty-three  years  old,  he  was  elected 
to  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania.  Though  an 
avowed  Federalist,  he  not  only  spoke  in  favor  of 
a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  War  of  1812,  but 
likewise  marched  as  a  private  soldier  to  the  de 
fense  of  Baltimore.  In  1820,  he  was  elected  to 
the  lower  House  of  Congress,  where  he  speedily 
attained  eminence  as  a  finished  and  energetic 
speaker.  His  political  views  are  shown  in  the 
following  extract  from  one  of  his  speeches  in 
Congress :  "  If  I  know  myself,  I  am  a  politician 


JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

neither  of  the  West  nor  the  East,  of  the  North  nor 
of  the  South.  I  therefore  shall  forever  avoid  any 
expressions  the  direct  tendency  of  which  must  be 
to  create  sectional  jealousies,  and  at  length  dis 
union — that  worst  of  all  political  calamities." 
That  he  sincerely  endeavored  in  his  future  career 
to  act  in  accordance  with  the  principles  here 
enunciated  no  candid  mind  can  doubt,  however 
much  he  may  be  regarded  to  have  failed  in  doing 
so,  especially  during  the  eventful  last  months  of 
his  Administration. 

In  1831,  at  the  close  of  his  fifth  term,  Mr.  Bu 
chanan,  having  declined  a  re-election  to  Congress, 
was  sent  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  St.  Peters 
burg,  where  he  concluded  the  first  commercial 
treaty  between  the  United  States  and  Russia. 
On  his  return  home  in  1833,  he  was  elected  to 
the  National  Senate.  Here  he  became  one  of 
the  leading  spirits  among  the  supporters  of  Presi 
dent  Jackson,  and  also  supported  the  Administra 
tion  of  Martin  Van  Buren.  He  was  re-elected 
to  the  Senate,  and  his  last  act  as  a  Senator  was 
to  report  favorably  on  the  admission  of  Texas, 
he  being  the  only  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations  to  do  so. 

On  the  election  of  Polk  to  the  Presidency,  in 
1845,  Mr.  Buchanan  was  selected  to  fill  the  im 
portant  position  of  Secretary  of  State.  He 
strongly  opposed  the  "Wilmot  Proviso,"  and  all 
other  provisions  for  the  restriction  of  slavery. 


464  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

At  the  close  of  Folk's  term,  he  withdrew  to  private 
life,  but  was  subsequently  sent  by  President 
Pierce  as  our  Minister  to  England.  It  was  while 
acting  in  this  capacity  that  he  united  with  Mason 
and  Soule  in  the  once  celebrated  "  Ostend  Mani 
festo,"  in  which  strong  ground  was  taken  in  favor 
of  the  annexation  of  Cuba  to  the  United  States, 
by  purchase,  if  possible,  but  if  necessary,  by  force. 

Returning  home  in  1856,  he  was  nominated  as 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency, 
and,  after  a  stormy  campaign,  elected,  receiving 
one  hundred  and  seventy-four  out  of  three  hun 
dred  and  three  electoral  votes.  His  opponents 
were  John  C.  Fremont,  Republican,  and  Millard 
Fillmore,  American.  He  was  inaugurated  on  the 
4th  of  March,  1857.  With  the  exception  of  a  slight 
difficulty  with  the  Mormons  in  Utah,  and  of  the 
admission  into  the  Union  of  Minnesota  in  1858, 
and  of  Oregon  in  1859,  the  chief  interest  of  Mr. 
Buchanan's  Administration  centered  around  the 
slavery  controversy. 

At  the  time  of  his  inauguration,  it  is  true,  the 
country  looked  confidently  forward  to  a  period  of 
political  quiet.  But,  unhappily,  the  Kansas  diffi 
culty  had  not  been  settled.  The  Free-State  party 
in  that  territory  refused  obedience  to  the  laws 
passed  by  the  local  Legislature,  on  the  grounds 
that  that  Legislature  had  been  elected  by  fraudu 
lent  means.  They  even  chose  a  rival  Legislature, 
which,  however,  the  President  refused  to  recog- 


JAMES  BUCHANAN. 

nize.  Meanwhile  the  so-called  regular  Legislature, 
which  Congress  had  sanctioned,  passed  a  bill  for 
the  election  of  delegates  by  the  people  to  frame  a 
State  Constitution  for  Kansas.  An  election  was 
accordingly  held;  the  Convention  met,  and  after  a 
stormy  and  protracted  session,  completed  its  work. 
The  Lecompton  Constitution's  it  was  called,  when 
laid  before  Congress,  met  with  strong  opposition 
from  the  Republicans,  on  the  ground  that  it  had 
been  fraudulently  concocted.  The  President,  how 
ever,  gave  it  ail  his  influence,  believing  that  it 
would  bring  peace  to  the  country,  while  not  pre 
venting  Kansas  from  being  a  free  State,  should  its 
people  so  desire;  and  finally,  after  a  struggle  of 
extraordinary  violence  and  duration,  it  received 
the  sanction  of  Congress. 

But  quiet  was  not  restored.  In  the  North,  the 
feeling  against  the  President  and  his  party  be 
came  intense.  The  election  in  1860  resulted  in 
the  triumph  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  Republican 
candidate  for  the  Presidency.  The  period  between 
Lincoln's  election  and  his  inauguration  was  one 
of  peculiar  trial  to  President  Buchanan.  An  at 
tempt  to  incite  a  slave  insurrection,  made  at  Har 
per's  Ferry,  in  1859,  by  John  Brown,  of  Kansas,  for 
which  he  was  hanged  by  the  authorities  of  Virginia, 
had  created  a  profound  sensation  in  the  South, 
where  it  was  regarded  by  many  as  indicative  of 
the  fixed  purpose  of  the  North  to  destroy  slavery 
at  all  hazards.  The  election  of  Lincoln  following 


466  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

so  soon  after  this  event,  added  strength  to  their 
apprehensions.  As  soon  as  the  result  of  the 
canvass  became  known,  South  Carolina  seceded 
from  the  Union.  Mr.  Buchanan,  apparently  re 
garding  the  fears  and  complaints  of  the  South 
as  not  without  some  just  grounds,  seems  to  have 
endeavored  to  bring  about  a  peaceful  solution  of 
the  difficulties  before  him  by  attempts  at  concilia 
tion.  But  however  good  his  intentions  may  have 
been,  his  policy,  which  has  been  characterized  as 
weak,  vacillating,  and  cowardly,  so  signally  failed, 
that  when,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1861,  he  retired 
from  the  Presidency,  he  handed  over  to  his  suc 
cessor  an  almost  hopelessly  divided  Union,  from 
which  seven  States  had  already  seceded. 

Mr.  Buchanan  also  used  his  influence  for  the 
purchase  of  Cuba  as  a  means  of  extending  slave 
territory.  He  permitted  the  seizure  of  Southern 
forts  and  arsenals,  and  the  removal  of  muskets 
from  Northern  to  Southern  armories  as  the  seces 
sion  movements  matured,  and  in  his  message  of 
December,  1860,  he  directly  cast  upon  the  North 
the  blame  of  the  disrupted  Union. 

Remaining  in  Washington  lonof  enough  to  wit- 

o  o  o  o 

ness  the  installation  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  Mr.  Buch 
anan  withdrew  to  the  privacy  of  Wheatland,  his 
country  home,  near  Lancaster,  in  Pennsylvania. 
Here  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days,  taking 
no  prominent  part  in  public  affairs.  In  1866,  he 
published  a  volume  entitled,  Mr.  Buchanans 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

Administration,  in  which  he  explained  and  de 
fended  the  policy  he  had  pursued  while  in  the 
Presidential  office.  He  never  married.  His  death 
occurred  at  his  mansion  at  Wheatland,  on  the  ist 
of  June,  1868. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN, 

SIXTEENTH  President  of  the  Union,  was 
born  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky,  on  the 
1 2th  of  February,  1809.  His  parents  were 
extremely  poor,  and  could  give  him  but  scant 
opportunities  of  education.  It  is  supposed  that 
his  ancestors  came  to  this  country  from  England 
among  the  original  followers  of  William  Penn. 
About  the  middle  of  the  last  century  they  lived  in 
Berks  County,  Pennsylvania,  whence  one  branch 
of  the  family  moved  to  Virginia.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  taught  to  reacj  and  write  by  his 
mother,  a  woman  of  intelligence  far  above  her 
humble  station.  When  he  was  in  his  eighth  year, 
the  family  removed  to  the  then  wilderness  of 
Spencer  County,  Indiana,  where,  in  the  course  of 
three  or  four  years,  the  boy  Abraham,  who  was 
quick  and  eager  to  learn,  had  a  chance  to  acquire 
the  rudiments  of  the  more  ordinary  branches  of 
such  a  common-school  education  as  was  to  be 
obtained  in  that  rude  frontier  district;  but  his 
mother  died  when  he  was  about  eleven  years  old, 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

which  was  to  him  a  sad  loss.  At  the  age  of  nine 
teen,  he  set  out  in  a  flat-boat,  containing  a  cargo 
of  considerable  value,  on  a  voyage  to  New  Or 
leans.  While  passing  down  the  Mississippi,  they 
were  attacked  by  a  thieving  band  of  negroes,  but 
they  courageously  beat  off  the  robbers,  and  suc 
ceeded  in  reaching  their  destination  safely. 

In  1830,  Lincoln's  father  removed  to  Decatur 
County,  Illinois.  Here  Abraham  assisted  in  estab 
lishing  the  new  home.  It  was  on  this  occasion 
that  he  split  the  famous  rails  from  which,  years 
after,  he  received  his  name  of  "the  rail-splitter." 
During  the  severe  winter  which  followed,  by  his 
exertions  and  skill  as  a  hunter,  he  contributed 
greatly  in  keeping  the  family  from  starvation. 
The  next  two  years  he  passed  through  as  a  farm 
hand  and  as  a  clerk  in  a  country  store.  In  the 
Black-Hawk  War,  which  broke  out  in  1832,  he 
served  creditably  as  a  volunteer,  and  on  his  re 
turn  home  ran  for  the  Legislature,  but  was  de 
feated.  He  next  tried  store-keeping,  but  failed ; 
and  then,  having  learned  something  of  surveying, 
worked  two  or  three  years  quite  successfully  as  a 
surveyor  for  the  Government.  In  1834,  he  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature,  in  which  he  did  the  ex 
tremely  unpopular  act  of  recording  his  name 
against  some  pro-slavery  legislation  of  that  body. 
He  soon  after  took  up  the  study  of  law,  being  ad 
mitted  to  the  bar  in  1837,  when  he  removed  to 
Springfield,  and  began  to  practice.  John  T.  Stuart 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


471 


was  his  business  partner.  In  1842,  he  married 
Miss  Mary  Todd,  daughter  of  Robert  S.  Todd, 
Esq.,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky.  He  rose  rapidly 
in  his  profession,  to  which  having  served  a  second 
term  in  the  Legislature,  he  devoted  himself  assidu 
ously  till  1844,  during  which  year  he  canvassed 
the  State  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Clay,  the  Whig  candi 
date  for  the  Presidency.  In  1847,  he  took  his  seat 
in  the  lower  house  of  Congress,  where  he  was  the 
only  Whig  from  the  whole  State  of  Illinois.  Ser 
ving  but  a  single  term  in  Congress,  Mr.  Lincoln, 
in  1 848,  canvassed  the  State  for  General  Taylor, 
and  the  following  year  was  an  unsuccessful  can 
didate  for  a  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
He  now  renewed  his  devotion  to  his  legal  pur 
suits,  yet  still  retained  a  deep  interest  in  national 
politics. 

The  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which 
created  a  profound  sensation  throughout  the 
entire  North,  brought  about  a  complete  political 
revolution  in  Illinois,  and  the  State  went  over  to 
the  Whigs.  In  this  revolution  Mr.  Lincoln  took 
a  most  active  part,  and  gained  a  wide  reputation 
as  an  effective  stump  speaker.  In  1856,  he  was 
brought  prominently  before  the  first  Republican 
National  Convention,  and  came  very  near  being 
nominated  as  its  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidency. 
In  1858,  as  Republican  candidate  for  United 
States  Senator,  he  canvassed  Illinois  in  opposition 
to  Judge  Douglas,  the  Democratic  nominee. 


47 2  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

Douglas  was,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  effective 
public  speakers  of  the  time,  yet  it  is  generally 
conceded  that  Lincoln,  though  he  failed  to  obtain 
the  Senatorship,  was  fully  equal  to  his  distin 
guished  and  no  doubt  more  polished  opponent. 
The  rare  versatility  and  comprehensiveness  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  mind  found  full  illustration  in  this 
exciting  contest. 

During  the  next  eighteen  months,  Mr.  Lincoln 
visited  various  parts  of  the  country,  delivering 
speeches  of  marked  ability  and  power ;  and  when, 
in  May,  1860,  the  Republican  National  Conven 
tion  met  at  Chicago,  he  was,  on  the  third  ballot, 
chosen  as  its  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  In 
consequence  of  a  division  in  the  Democratic  party, 
he  was  elected,  receiving  one  hundred  and  eighty 
out  of  three  hundred  and  three  electoral  votes. 
In  the  popular  vote  the  result  was  as  follows : 
Lincoln,  1,887,610;  Douglas,  1,291,574;  Brecken- 
ridge,  Pro-slavery  Democrat,  880,082  ;  Bell,  Con 
stitutional-Union  party,  646,124:  thus  leaving 
Lincoln  in  the  minority  of  the  popular  vote  by 
nearly  a  million. 

The  election  of  Lincoln  was  at  once  made  a 
pretext  for  dissolving  the  Union.  Though  he  had 
repeatedly  declared  his  intention  not  to  interfere 
with  the  existing  institutions  of  "the  South,  and  to 
hold  inviolate  his  official  oath  to  maintain  the 
Constitution,  all  was  of  no  avail  to  dissuade  that 
section  from  its  predetermined  purpose.  A 


AM  All  AM  LINCOLN.  4  7  j 

month  before  he  was  inaugurated  six  Southern 
States,  having  solemnly  withdrawn  from  the 
Union,  met  in  convention  and  framed  the  Consti 
tution  of  a  new  and  independent  Confederacy. 

The  President-elect  left  his  home  in  Springfield 
on  the  nth  of  February,  1861,  and  proceeded  by 
a  somewhat  circuitous  toute  to  Washington,  de 
livering  short,  pithy  addresses  in  the  larger 
towns  and  cities  through  which  he  passed.  He 
also  visited  the  Legislatures  of  several  North 
ern  States,  everywhere  reiterating  his  purpose, 
while  not  disturbing  the  domestic  relations  of 
the  South,  to  maintain  the  Union  intact  at  all 
hazards.  Though  informed  at  Philadelphia 
that  a  plot  had  been  formed  for  his  assassination 
in  Baltimore,  he  reached  Washington  on  Feb 
ruary  23d  without  molestation,  and  on  the  4th 
of  March  was  duly  inaugurated  in  the  presence 
of  an  immense  assemblage  from  all  parts  of  the 
country. 

In  his  inaugural  address  the  new  President,  as 
suring  the  people  of  the  South  that  he  had  taken 
the  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  unreservedly, 
and  that  there  were  no  grounds  for  any  fear  that 
"  their  property,",  peace,  or  persons  were  to  be 
endangered,  declared  it  to  be  his  firm  intention 
to  execute  the  laws,  collect  duties  and  imposts, 
and  to  hold  the  public  properties  in  all  the 
States — with  no  bloodshed,  however,  unless  it 
should  be  forced  upon  the  national  authority. 


474  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

On  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  Mr, 
Lincoln  found  the  condition  of  affairs  far  from 
encouraging.  Seven  States  had  already  with 
drawn  from  the  Union,  and  others  were  preparing 
to  follow  their  example.  The  credit  of  the  Gov 
ernment  was  low ;  the  army  and  navy  not  only 
small  and  inefficient,  but  scattered  all  through  our 
wide  domain ;  and  the  greater  part  of  the  public 
arms,  through  the  treachery  of  certain  officials, 
were  in  the  possession  of  the  seceded  States. 
Still,  he  was  hopeful  and  buoyant,  and  believed 
that  the  pending  difficulties  would  soon  be  ad 
justed.  Even  when,  on  the  I4th  of  April,  1861, 
the  bombardment  and  capture  of  Fort  Sumter  by 
a  Confederate  Army  roused  the  North  to  intense 
action,  though  he  immediately  issued  a  call  for 
75,000  volunteers,  it  was  seemingly  with  but  a 
faint  idea  that  they  would  be  needed.  The  fact 
that  they  were  summoned  for  only  three  months — 
a  period  far  from  long  enough  for  the  organization 
of  so  large  a  body  of  men — is  of  itself  sufficient 
evidence  of  the  delusion  under  which  he  was 
laboring. 

The  battle  of  Bull  Run,  on  the  2ist  of  July, 
1861,  which  resulted  in  the  total  route  of  the 
Government  forces,  in  a  great  measure  dispelled 
this  delusion.  The  real  magnitude  of  the  contest 
now  began  to  show  itself  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  Yet 
his  courage  never  faltered,  nor  was  he  less  hope 
ful  of  the  final  triumph  of  the  Union.  Cheerfully 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

accepting  the  burden  of  cares  and  responsibilities 
so  suddenly  thrown  upon  him,  he  put  his  whole 
heart  in  the  work  before  him,  and  not  even  the 
disasters  of  1862,  that  gloomiest  year  of  the  war, 
could  for  a  moment  shake  his  confiding  spirit. 
People  were  not  wanting  who  found  fault  with  the 
buoyant  temper  he  displayed  at  that  period ;  but 
his  apparent  cheeriness  was  of  as  much  avail  as 
our  armies  in  bringing  about  the  triumph  which 
at  last  came. 

Of  the  struggle  which  resulted  in  this  triumph 
we  shall  give  no  details,  only  referring  briefly  to 
some  of  the  more  important  actions  of  the  Presi 
dent.  The  most  momentous  of  these,  without 
doubt,  was  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  issued 
on  the  22d  of  September,  1862,  and  to  take  effect 
on  the  ist  of  January,  1863,  by  which  slavery  was 
at  once  and  forever  done  away  with  in  the  United 
States.  In  his  message  to  Congress,  the  Presi 
dent  thus  explains  this  act :  "  In  giving  freedom 
to  the  slave  we  assure  freedom  to  the  free,  hon 
orable  alike  in  what  we  give  and  what  we  pre 
serve.  We  shall  nobly  save,  or  meanly  lose,  the 
last,  best  hope  of  earth.  *  *  *  The  way  is 
plain,  peaceful,  glorious,  just — a  way  which,  if 
followed,  the  world  will  forever  applaud  and  God 
must  forever  bless." 

In  1864,  by  a  respectable  majority  in  the  popu 
lar  vote  and  a  large  one  in  the  electoral  college, 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  re-elected  to  the  Presidency. 


&  PRESIDENTS. 


At  the  period  of  his  second  inauguration,  the 
complete  triumph  of  the  Federal  authority  over 
the  seceded  States  was  assured.  The  last  battles 
of  the  war  had  been  fought.  War  had  substan 
tially  ceased.  The  President  was  looking  forward 
to  the  more  congenial  work  of  pacification.  How 
he  designed  to  carry  out  this  work  we  may  judge 
from  the  following  passage  in  his  second  inaugu 
ral  :  "  With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity 
for  all,  with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us 
to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work 
we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds,  to  care 
for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle,  and  for 
his  widow  and  his  orphans,  to  do  all  that  may 
achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  a  lasting  peace 
among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations." 

Unfortunately,  the  kind-hearted  Lincoln  was 
not  to  carry  out  the  work  of  pacification  to  which 
he  looked  forward  with  such  bright  anticipations. 
But  a  little  more  than  a  month  after  his  second 
inauguration  —  on  the  night  of  the  I4th  of  April, 
1865  —  John  Wilkes  Booth,  one  of  a  small  band 
of  desperate  conspirators,  as  insanely  foolish  as 
they  were  wicked,  fired  a  pistol-ball  into  the  brain 
of  the  President  as  he  satin  his  box  at  the  theatre. 
The  wound  proved  fatal  in  a  few  hours,  Mr.  Lin 
coln  never  recovering  his  consciousness. 

The  excitement  which  the  assassination  of  the 
President  occasioned  was  most  intense.  The 
whole  country  was  in  tears.  Nor  was  this  grief 


BIRTH-PLACE  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  ELTZABETHTOWN,  KY, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  RESIDENCE  AT  SPRINGFIELD,  ILL. 


ANDRE  W  J  OIINSON.  ,  *  Q 

Confined  to  our  own  people.  England,  France, 
all  Europe,  and  even  the  far-off  countries  of  China 
and  Japan,  joined  in  the  lamentation.  Never  was 
man  more  universally  mourned,  or  more  deserv 
ing  of  such  widespread  sorrow. 

The  funeral  honors  were  grand  and  imposing. 
His  body,  having  been  embalmed,  was  taken  to 
his  home  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  passing  through 
Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Albany,  Buf 
falo,  Cleveland,  Chicago,  and  other  large  towns 
and  cities.  The  entire  road  seemed  to  be  lined 
with  mourners,  while  in  the  chief  cities  the  funeral 
ceremonies  were  equally  solemn  and  magnificent. 


ANDREW  JOHNSON, 

THE  constitutional  successor  to  President 
Lincoln,  was  born  in  Raleigh,  N.  C,  De 
cember  29th,  1808.  Prevented  by  the 
poverty  of  his  parents  from  receiving  any  school 
ing,  he  was  apprenticed,  at  the  age  of  ten,  to  a 
tailor.  On  the  expiration  of  his  apprenticeship, 
he  went  to  Greenville,  Tenn.,  where  he  married. 
By  his  wife  he  was  taught  to  write  and  to  cipher, 
having  already  learned  to  read.  Taking  consid 
erable  interest  in  local  politics,  he  formed  a  work- 
ingman's  party  in  the  town,  by  which  he  was 
elected  alderman,  and  afterward  Mayor.  In 
1835,  ne  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  Legislature, 


^So  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

Failing  of  re-election  in  1837,  ne  was  again  suc 
cessful  in  1839;  and  in  1841,  was  elected  to  the 
State  Senate.  His  ability  was  now  recognized 
and,  in  1843,  he  was  sent  to  Congress  as  a  Rep 
resentative  of  the  Democratic  party.  Having 
served  five  successive  terms  in  Congress,  he  was, 
in  1853,  elected  Governor  of  Tennessee,  and 
again  in  1855.  Two  years  later,  he  was  called 
upon  to  represent  Tennessee  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  where  he  speedily  rose  to  distinction  as  a 
man  of  great  native  energy.  The  free  homestead 
bill,  giving  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  the 
public  land  to  every  citizen  who  would  settle  upon 
it  and  cultivate  it  a  certain  number  of  years,  owes 
its  passage  to  his  persistent  advocacy.  On  the 
slavery  question  he  generally  went  with  the  Dem 
ocratic  party,  accepting  slavery  as  an  existing 
institution,  protected  by  the  Constitution. 

In  the  Presidential  canvass  of  1860,  Mr.  John 
son  was  a  supporter  of  Breckinridge,  but  took 
strong  grounds  against  secession  when  that  sub 
ject  came  up.  His  own  State  having  voted  itself 
out  of  the  Union,  it  was  at  the  peril  of  his  life 
that  he  returned  home  in  1861.  Attacked  by  a 
mob  on  a  railroad  car,  he  boldly  faced  his  assail 
ants,  pistol  in  hand,  and  they  slunk  away.  On 
the  4th  of  March,  1862,  he  was  appointed  Military 
Governor  of  Tennessee.  He  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  his  office  with  a  courage  and  vigor  that 
soon  entirely  reversed  the  condition  of  affairs  in 


ANDRE  W  JOHNSON. 

the  State.  By  March,  1864,  he  had  so  far  restored 
order  that  elections  were  held  for  State  and 
County  officers,  and  the  usual  machinery  of  civil 
government  was  once  more  set  in  motion. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  1865,  Mr.  Johnson  was 
inaugurated  as  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States.  The  assassination  of  President  Lincoln, 
a  little  more  than  a  month  afterward,  placed  him 
in  the  vacant  chief  executive  chair.  Though  Mr. 
Johnson  made  no  distinct  pledges,  it  was  thought 
by  the  tone  of  his  inaugural  that  he  would  pursue 
a  severe  course  toward  the  seceded  States.  Yet 
the  broad  policy  of  restoration  he  finally  adopted, 
met  the  earnest  disapproval  of  the  great  party  by 
which  he  had  been  elected.  The  main  point  at 
issue  was,  "  whether  the  seceded  States  should 
be  at  once  admitted  to  representation  in  Congress, 
and  resume  all  the  rights  they  had  enjoyed  before 
the  Civil  War,  without  further  guarantees  than  the 
surrender  of  their  armies,  and  with  no  provision 
for  protecting  the  emancipated  blacks." 

Johnson,  opposed  to  making  any  restrictive 
conditions,  therefore  persistently  vetoed  the  vari 
ous  reconstructive  measures  adopted  by  Congress. 
Though  these  measures  were  finally  passed  over 
the  President's  vetoes  by  two-thirds  of  the  votes 
of  each  house,  yet  his  determined  opposition  to 
their  policy,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  unconsti 
tutional,  gave  Congress  great  offense.  This  feeling 
finally  became  so  intense,  that  the  House  of  Repre- 


OUR  FORMER 

sentatives  brought  articles  of  impeachment  against 
him.  The  trial — the  first  of  its  kind  known  in  our 
history— was  conducted  by  the  United  States 
Senate,  presided  over  by  the  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  The  impeachment  failed,  how 
ever,  yet  only  lacked  one  vote  of  the  two-thirds 
majority  requisite  to  the  President's  conviction. 

In  1866,  Mr.  Johnson  made  a  tour  to  Chicago, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  made  many  petty 
speeches,  which  brought  upon  him  both  censure 
and  ridicule,  but  he  was  regarded  as  politically 
harmless,  and  to  the  close  of  his  term,  March  4th, 
1869,  he  was  allowed  to  pursue  his  own  policy 
with  but  little  opposition.  Retiring  to  his  home 
at  Greenville,  he  began  anew  to  take  an  active 
part  in  the  politics  of  his  State.  It  required  sev 
eral  years,  however,  for  him  to  regain  anything 
like  his  earlier  popularity  ;  but  finally,  in  January, 
1875,  he  succeeded  in  securing  his  election  once 
more  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  but 
he  died  on  the  3oth  of  the  following  July. 


ULYSSES   S.  GRANT. 

HISTORY  has  recorded   few  instances   of 
the  rapid  and  unexpected  rise  of  individ 
uals  in  humble  circumstances  to  the  high 
est  positions,  more  remarkable  than  that  afforded 
by  the  life   of  Ulysses   S.  Grant,  the   eighteenth 


UL  VSSES  S.   GRANT.  *  g  c- 

President  of  the  United  States.  He  was  the  son 
of  Jesse  R.  and  Hannah  Simpson  Grant,  both  na 
tives  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  born  April  27th, 
1822,  at  Point  Pleasant,  Clermont  County,  Ohio. 
His  early  education  was  merely  that  of  the  com 
mon  schools  of  his  day.  By  a  conjunction  of 
favoring1  circumstances,  he  passed,  in  1839,  from 
the  bark- mill  of  his  father's  tannery  to  the  Mili 
tary  Academy  at  West  Point.  He  was  a  diligent 
but  not  distinguished  student.  Having  graduated 
in  1843,  the  twenty-first  in  a  class  of  thirty-nine,  he 
signalized  himself  by  his  bravery  in  the  Mexican 
War,  being  rewarded  therefor  by  a  captain's  com 
mission.  He  then  married  Miss  Julia  J.  Dent,  of 
Saint  Louis,  and,  after  spending  several  years  with 
his  regiment  in  California  and  Oregon,  left  the 
service  in  July,  1854,  tried  farming  and  the  real 
estate  business  with  moderate  success,  and  finally 
was  taken  by  his  father  as  a  partner  in  his  leather 
store  at  Galena. 

He  was  yet  thus  humbly  employed  when  Presi 
dent  Lincoln  issued  his  calt  for  75,000  three 
months'  men.  Marching  to  Springfield  at  the 
head  of  a  company  of  volunteers,  his  military 
knowledge  made  him  exceedingly  useful  to  Gov 
ernor  Yates,  who  retained  him  as  mustering  officer, 
until  he  was  commissioned  colonel  of  the  Twenty- 
first  Regimeat  of  Illinois  Volunteers,  on  the  1 7th  of 
June,  1861.  The  following  August,  having  been 
made  a  brigadier-general,  he  took  command  at  Cai- 


486  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

ro,  where  he  displayed  much  activity  and  attracted 
some  attention.  On  the  yth  of  November  he 
fought  the  Battle  of  Belmont,  where  he  had  a 
horse  shot  under  him.  His  capture  of  Fort  Don- 
elson,  with  all  its  defenders,  on  the  i5th  of  Febru 
ary,  1862,  after  a  severe  battle  resulting  in  the  first 
real  and  substantial  triumph  of  the  war,  at  once 
gave  Grant  a  national  reputation.  For  this  bril 
liant  victory  he  was  immediately  rewarded  by  a 
commission  as  major-general  of  volunteers. 

Soon  after  the  capture  of  Donelson,  General 
Grant  was  placed  in  command  of  an  important 
expedition  up  the  Tennessee  River.  At  Pittsburg 
Landing,  while  preparing  for  an  attack  on  Corinth, 
a  part  of  his  army  was  surprised,  at  daybreak  of 
the  6th  of  April,  by  an  overwhelming  force  of 
Confederates,  and  driven  from  their  camp  with 
severe  loss.  Rallying  his  men  that  evening  under 
the  protection  of  the  gun-boats,  Grant,  having 
been  reinforced  during  the  night,  renewed  the 
battle  the  following  morning,  and,  after  an  obsti 
nate  contest,  compelled  the  enemy  to  fall  back 
upon  Corinth. 

In  July,  General  Grant  was  placed  in  command 
of  the  Department  of  West  Tennessee,  with  his 
headquarters  at  Corinth,  which  the  Confederates 
had  evacuated  in  the  previous  May.  On  the  i9th 
of  September  he  gained  a  complete  victory  over 
the  Confederates  at  luka,  and  then  removed  his 
headquarters  to  Jackson,  Tennessee.  Vicksburg, 


ULYSSES  S.  GRANT.  487 

on  the  Mississippi,  having  been  strongly  fortified 
and  garrisoned  by  the  enemy,  the  duty  of  taking 
that  place  devolved  upon  Grant.  After  several 
attempts  against  it  from  the  north,  all  of  which 
resulted  more  or  less  disastrously,  he  finally 
moved  his  army  down  the  west  bank  of  the  river, 
and,  crossing  to  the  east  side,  at  a  point  below  the 
city,  began,  on  the  i8th  of  May,  1863,  a  formal 
siege,  which  lasted  until  the  4th  of  the  ensuing 
July,  when  the  place  was  surrendered,  with  nearly 
thirty  thousand  prisoners  and  an  immense  amount 
of  military  stores. 

Grant's  capture  of  Vicksburg,  the  result  of  that 
tenacity  of  purpose  which  is  a  marked  trait  in  his 
character,  was  hailed  with  unbounded  delight  by 
the  whole  country.  He  was  immediately  commis 
sioned  a  major-general  in  the  regular  army,  and 
placed  in  command  of  the  entire  military  Division 
of  the  Mississippi.  Congress  also,  meeting  in 
December,  ordered  a  gold  medal  to  be  struck  for 
him,  and  passed  resolutions  of  thanks  to  him  and 
his  army.  Still  further,  a  bill  reviving  the  grade 
of  lieutenant-general  was  passed,  and,  on  the  ist 
of  March,  1864,  Grant  was  appointed  by  Presi 
dent  Lincoln  to  the  position  thus  created. 

Having  now  been  placed  at  the  head  of  an 
army  of  seven  hundred  thousand  men,  Grant, 
announcing  that  his  headquarters  would  be  in  the 
field,  "  at  once  planned  two  movements,  to  be  di 
rected  simultaneously  against  vital  points  of  the 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

Confederacy."  One  of  these,  with  Richmond  for 
its  point  of  attack,  he  commanded  in  person  ;  the 
other,  against  Atlanta,  in  Georgia,  was  headed  by 
General  Sherman. 

On  the  3d  of  May,  Grant  began  the  movement 
against  Richmond,  crossing  the  Rapidan,  and 
pushing  determinedly  into  the  "  Wilderness," 
where,  met  by  Lee,  a  bloody  battle  was  fought, 
foiling  his  first  attempt  to  place  himself  between 
the  Confederate  Army  and  their  threatened  capi 
tal.  Advancing  by  the  left  flank,  he  was  again 
confronted  by  Lee  at  Spottsylvania,  and  com 
pelled  to  make  another  flank  movement,  resulting 
in  his  again  being  brought  to  a  stand  by  his  wary 
antagonist.  Declaring  his  determination  "to 
fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  took  him  all  summer," 
Grant  still  pushed  on  by  a  series  of  flank  move 
ments,  each  culminating  in  a  sanguinary  battle, 
in  which  his  losses  were  fearful,  and  finally,  pass 
ing  Richmond  on  the  east,  crossed  the  James, 
and  laid  siege  to  the  city  of  Petersburg,  the  cap 
ture  of  which  now  became  the  great  problem  of 
the  war. 

Grant  crossed  the  James  on  the  I5th  of  June, 

1864.  It  was   not  until  the  beginning  of  April, 

1865,  after  a  series  of  desperate  assaults,  coming 
to  a  crisis    in  the  battle  of  Five  Forks,  in   which 
Grant  gained  a  crowning  triumph,  that    Peters 
burg  finally  succumbed.     The  fall   of  Petersburg 
compelled    Lee   to  evacuate  Richmond  with    the 


UL  YSSES  S.  GRANT. 

meagre  remnant  of  his  army.  He  retreated 
westward  toward  Danville,  followed  closely  by 
Grant.  At  the  same  time  Sherman,  who  had  met 
with  almost  unparalleled  success  in  his  part  of  the 
concerted  movement,  was  marching  triumphantly 
through  Alabama  and  Georgia  to  the  sea-coast, 
along  which  he  swept  northward,  and  was  threat 
ening  Lee  from  another  quarter,  so  that,  placed 
between  two  large  armies,  both  flushed  with  vic 
tory,  no  other  resource  was  left  him  than  to  sur 
render  the  thin  remnant  of  his  force.  This  he 
did,  to  Grant,  at  Appomattox  Court-House,  on  the 
9th  of  April,  1865,  and  the  "Great  Rebellion  "  was 
thus  virtually  brought  to  a  close. 

On  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  Grant  made 
Washington  his  headquarters,  and  was,  in  July, 
1866,  commissioned  General  of  the  United  States 
Army — a  rank  which  had  been  specially  created 
to  do  him  honor.  In  August,  1867,  he  for  awhile 
acted  as  Secretary  of  War  ad  interim  under 
President  Johnson ;  but,  notwithstanding  the  lat- 
ter's  earnest  request  to  the  contrary,  he,  when  the 
Senate  refused  to  sanction  Stanton's  removal, 
restored  the  position  to  that  gentleman,  from 
whom  it  had  been  taken. 

In  the  Republican  National  Convention,  held  at 
Chicago,  on  the  2ist  of  May,  1868,  General  Grant 
was  on  the  first  ballot  unanimously  nominated  as 
the  candidate  of  that  party  for  the  Presidency. 
His  Democratic  competitor  was  Horatio  Sey- 


400  OUR- FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

mour,  of  New  York.  The  election  resulted  in 
Grant  receiving  two  hundred  and  fourteen  out  of 
two  hundred  and  ninety-four  electoral  votes.  He 
was  inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  March,  1869. 
Though  brought  into  conflict  with  some  of  the 
prominent  men  of  his  party  by  his  determined 
effort  to  bring  about  the  annexation  of  San  Do 
mingo  to  the  United  States,  President  Grant's 
first  official  term  gave  satisfaction  to  the  mass  of 
his  Republican  adherents.  During  the  first  six 
months  of  his  term  the  public  debt  was  reduced 
some  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  order  and  prosper 
ity  were  rapidly  restored  throughout  the  Southern 
States,  and  the  hatred  and  animosities  of  the  war 
were  greatly  softened,  though  Grant's  firmness  in 
many  instances  had  begotten  severe  opposition. 

In  their  National  Convention  at  Philadelphia, 
on  the  5th  of  June,  1872,  he  was  nominated  by 
acclamation  for  a  second  term.  His  opponent  in 
this  contest  was  Horace  Greeley,  who  was  sup 
ported  by  both  the  Democrats  and  the  so-called 
Liberal  Republicans.  The  election  resulted  in 
the  success  of  General  Grant,  who  received  two 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  out  of  the  three  hundred 
and  forty-eight  electoral  votes  cast.  He  was  in 
augurated  a  second  time  on  the  4th  of  March, 

1873- 

Grant's  second  term  was  one  of  improving 
prospects,  though  the  transitions  from  the  exces 
sive  inflations  attendant  on  the  war  to  the  solid 


UL  YSSES  S.  GRANT. 

business  basis  of  peace  made  financial  affairs  un 
steady  and  led  to  the  famous  panic  of  '73.  But 
prosperity  returned  gradually  and  on  a  more  solid 
basis,  and  the  great  Centennial  Exposition  of  1876, 
at  Philadelphia,  was  a  fitting  crown  upon  the  final 
year  of  Grant's  eight  years  of  Presidential  work 
and  honor.  In  his  last  message  to  Congress 
he  urged  compulsory  common-school  education 
where  other  means  of  education  are  not  provided; 
the  exclusion  of  all  sectarianism  from  public 
schools;  the  prohibition  of  voting,  after  1890,  to 
all  persons  unable  to  read  and  write ;  the  perma 
nent  separation  of  Church  and  State;  entire  reli 
gious  freedom  for  all  sects,  and  legislation  to 
speedily  secure  a  return  to  sound  currency. 

General  Grant  was  strongly  urged  to  accept 
the  nomination  for  a  third  term,  but  declined  the 
honor  and  retired  to  private  life,  March  4th,  1877. 
After  his  long-continued  public  service,  an  ex 
tended  trip  abroad  was  deemed  desirable  by  the 
General.  Arrangements  were  matured  accord 
ingly,  and  on  May  1 7th,  1877,  he  sailed  from  Phila 
delphia  in  the  steamer  Indiana.  His  journey  was 
prosperous  in  every  respect.  He  made  the  tour 
of  the  world  and  reached  San  Francisco  Septem 
ber  2Oth,  1879.  Everywhere  he  was  the  recipient 
of  the  highest  honors.  The  most  distinguished 
crowned  heads  and  military  leaders  of  all  nations 
were  proud  to  do  him  honor,  and  he  in  return  did 
many  personal  friendly  offices  which  were  most 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

gratefully  recognized.  He  finally  settled  in  New 
York  city,  where  he  is  justly  honored  and  highly 
appreciated  by  all. 


RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES. 

RUTHERFORD  BIRCHARD  HAYES, 
the  nineteenth  incumbent  of  the  Presiden 
tial  chair,  was  born  at  Delaware,  Ohio, 
October  4th,  1822.  He  enjoyed  the  most  favorable 
surroundings  of  refinement  and  culture  in  his 
youth,  and  graduated  at  Kenyon  College  in  1842. 
In  1845,  he  graduated  from  the  Harvard  Law 
School  and  began  practice  in  Fremont,  Ohio, 
from  which  place  he  removed  to  Cincinnati  in  1849. 
He  served  as  City  Solicitor  for  several  years, 
until  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  when  he  took 
the  field  as  major  of  the  Twenty- third  Ohio  Volun 
teers.  He  had  a  splendid  record,  rising  to  the  com 
mand  of  a  division,  being  breveted  major-general, 
and  continuing  until  June  ist,  1865,  when  he  re 
signed  his  rank  and  returned  to  Cincinnati. 

In  December,  1865,  he  entered  Congress,  to 
which  he  had  been  elected  before  he  left  the  army. 
He  was  re-elected  to  this  position,  but  resigned 
to  become  Governor  of  Ohio,  to  which  office  he 
was  three  times  chosen,  an  honor  never  before 
conferred  in  that  State.  The  prominent  issues  in 
his  last  campaign  for  the  Governorship  were  the 


RVTHERPORD  &. 

currency  and  the  school  questions.  So  satis 
factory  were  his  views  on  these  measures,  that  he 
received  much  favorable  mention  for  nomination 
in  the  Presidential  campaign  then  approaching. 

On  June  i6th,  1876,  the  Republican  Convention 
met  at  Cincinnati,  and  on  the  seventh  ballot 
Hayes  received  the  nomination  over  James  G. 
Elaine  and  Benjamin  H.  Bristow.  Hayes  received 
three  hundred  and  eighty-four  votes,  Blaine  three 
hundred  and  fifty-one,  and  Bristow  twenty-one. 
The  contest  was  bitter  in  the  Convention  and  in 
the  succeeding  canvass,  and  its  close  was  a  disputed 
election,  the  electoral  votes  of  Florida,  South  Caro 
lina,  and  Louisiana  being  claimed  by  both  parties, 
as  was  one  electoral  vote  of  Oregon  also.  The 
contest  was  finally  referred  to  an  Electoral  Com 
mission,  which  decided  by  a  vote  of  eight  to  seven 
that  Hayes  was  elected,  and  he,  accordingly,  sue- 
ceeded  General  Grant  in  the  office  on  March  4th, 
1877,  the  inauguration  occurring  on  the  next  day, 
Monday,  March  5th.  The  great  feature  of  this 
Administration  was  the  full  resumption  of  specie 
payments,  a  success  achieved  without  jar  or  con 
fusion  of  any  kind  in  the  business  of  the  country. 

At  the  close  of  his  term,  March  4th,  1881,  Mr. 
Hayes  turned  over  the  Administration  to  his  suc 
cessor  amid  peace  and  prosperity  such  as  the  na 
tion  seldom  enjoyed,  and  returned  to  his  home  in 
Ohio,  where  he  still  lives  (June,  1884),  respected 
and  beloved  by  all  his  fellow-citizens. 


498 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 


THE  nation's  choice  for  the  twenty-fourth 
Presidential  term,  James  Abram  Garfield, 
was  born  November  i9th,  1831, at  Orange, 
Cuyahoga  County,  Ohio.  His  ancestors  were  early 
immigrants  of  New  England,  and  they  bore  noble 
part  in  all  the  hardships  and  sufferings  of  the  Rev 
olutionary  and  earlier  periods.  His  parents  were 
Abram  and  Eliza  Garfield,  his  father  dying  when 
James  was  but  a  child,  and  his  mother  surviving  to 
see  his  exaltation  to  the  Presidency  and  his  un 
timely  end. 

James  Garfield's  early  life  was  one  filled  with 
the  struggles  incident  to  poverty  on  the  frontier 
settlements.  On  the  farm,  on  the  canal,  and  at 
the  carpenter's  bench,  he  toiled  energetically,  read 
ing  and  studying  all  the  while,  that  he  might  fit 
himself  for  college.  He  finally  betook  himself  to 
teaching  as  a  means  of  subsistence,  and  while  so 
engaged  pressed  his  own  education  diligently.  He 
decided  to  enter  Williams  College,  Mass.,  which 
he  did,  in  June,  1854,  in  a  class  nearly  two  years 
advanced.  He  had  saved  some  money,  but  he 
worked  during  his  vacations  and  at  spare  mo 
ments,  and  so  was  enabled  to  complete  his  course, 
though  somewhat  in  debt,  graduating  August,  1856. 
While  yet  a  student,  he  became  much  interested  in 
politics  and  made  some  speeches  on  his  favorite 
views. 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 

After  his  graduation,  he  entered  Hiram  College, 
Ohio,  as  a  teacher  of  ancient  languages  and  liter 
ature,  and  soon  after  became  its  President.  Mean 
while,  he  was  active  in  a  wide  variety  of  good 
works,  preaching,  addressing  temperance  meet 
ings,  making  political  speeches,  and  at  the  same 
time  pursuing  the  study  of  the  law.  In  1858,  he 
married  Lucretia  Rudolph,  who  had  been  a  fellow- 
student  with  him  in  his  academic  schooldays. 

As  a  logical  and  effective  political  speaker,  Gar- 
field  soon  became  prominent,  and  in  1859  was 
elected  to  the  Senate  of  his  native  State,  where  he 
immediately  took  high  rank,  although  he  still  con 
tinued  to  be  much  engaged  in  literary  and  relig 
ious  work.  In  August,  1861,  he  solemnly  consid 
ered  the  question  of  entering  the  army,  and  wrote 
his  conclusion  thus :  "  I  regard  my  life  as  given  to 
my  country.  I  am  only  anxious  to  make  as  much 
of  it  as  possible  before  the  mortgage  on  it  is  fore 
closed." 

As  a  soldier,  Garfield  was  thorough,  brave,  and 
efficient.  He  had  a  large  share  of  hard  fighting  in 
the  West  and  the  Southwest,  but  he  won  high  praise 
in  it  all,  rising  from  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel 
to  that  of  brigadier-general  and  chief  of  staff  to 
General  Rosecrans,  in  which  capacity  he  served 
until  the  battle  of  Chickamauga  had  been  fought, 
when  he  was  promoted  to  a  major-generalship 
for  "gallant  and  meritorious  conduct"  on  that 
bloody  field. 


t02  OUR  £0#M££  PRESIDENTS. 

Just  before  this  battle,  Garfield  had  been  chosen 
by  his  fellow-citizens  in  Ohio  as  their  representa 
tive  in  Congress.  To  accept  this  post  was  deemed 
his  duty  by  all  his  friends  and  advisers,  so  he  re 
signed  his  commission  on  the  5th  of  December, 
1863,  and  took  his  place  in  Congress  at  less  than 
half  the  salary  drawn  by  one  of  his  military  rank. 
In  this  new  position  he  exercised  the  same  earn 
est  conscientiousness  he  had  ever  shown.  He  was 
a  master  workman  in  every  line  of  duty  there  for 
seventeen  years,  during  which  period  he  left  the 
imprint  of  his  ability  and  patriotism  as  thoroughly 
upon  the  legislation  of  the  country  as  any  one 
man  in  public  service.  He  certainly  realized  the 
meaning  of  the  title,  "a  public  benefactor,"  as  de 
fined  in  his  own  speech  made  on  December  loth, 
1878,  in  which  he  said:  "The  man  who  wants  to 
serve  his  country  must  put  himself  in  the  line  of 
its  leading  thought,  and  that  is  the  restoration  of 
business,  trade,  commerce,  industry,  sound  polit 
ical  economy,  hard  money,  and  the  payment  of  all 
obligations,  and  the  man  who  can  add  anything  in 
the  direction  of  accomplishing  any  of  these  pur 
poses  is  a  public  benefactor." 

No  man  with  such  an  ideal  could  fail  to  at  once 
take  high  rank.  Nor  did  Garfield  fail  to  do  so. 
At  the  outset  he  was  recognized  as  a  leader,  and 
his  influence  grew  with  his  service.  He  was  at 
once  appointed  on  the  Military  Committee,  under 
the  chairmanship  of  General  Schenck  and  the  col- 


GEN.  GARFIEUD-S  HOME,  MENTOR,  OHIO 


JAM&S  A.  GARFlEtD. 

leagueship  of  Farnsworth,  both  fresh  from  the 
field.  In  this  work  he  was  of  great  service — just 
as  Rosecrans  anticipated  he  would  be.  His  thor 
ough  knowledge  of  the  wants  of  the  army  was  of 
the  first  value  in  all  legislation  pertaining  to  mil 
itary  matters.  He  was  appointed  chairman  of  a 
select  committee  of  seven  appointed  to  investigate 
the  alleged  frauds  in  the  money-printing  bureau 
of  the  Treasury,  and  on  other  very  important  and 
complicated  matters  he  rendered  service  of  the 
greatest  value. 

He  did  most  excellent  work,  as  an  orator,  on 
many  momentous  questions,  as  the  following  partial 
list  of  his  published  Congressional  speeches  will 
show :  "  Free  Commerce  between  the  States ;" 
"National  Bureau  of  Education;"  "The  Public 
Debt  and  Specie  Payments  ;"  "Taxation  of  United 
States  Bonds  ;"  "  Ninth  Census  ;"  "  Public  Expen 
ditures  and  Civil  Service;"  "The  Tariff;"  "Cur 
rency  and  the  Banks ;"  "  Debate  on  the  Currency 
Bill ;"  "  On  the  McGarrahan  Claim  ;"  "  The  Right 
to  Originate  Revenue  Bills ;"  "  Public  Expendi 
tures  ;"  "  National  Aid  to  Education  ,"  "  The  Cur 
rency  ;"  "  Revenues  and  Expenditures  ;"  "  Curren 
cy  and  the  Public  Faith ;"  "Appropriations;"  "Count 
ing  the  Electoral  Vote  ;"  "  Repeal  of  the  Resump 
tion  Law  ;"  "  The  New  Scheme  of  American  Fi 
nance  ;"  "The  Tariff ;""  Suspension  and  Resump 
tion  of  Specie  Payments ;"  "  Relation  of  the  Na 
tional  Government  to  Science ;"  "  Sugar  Tariff." 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

It  was  a  surprise  to  nobody,  but  a  real  pleasure 
to  multitudes,  when  at  Chicago,  on  June  8th,  1880, 
James  A.  Garfield  received  the  nomination  for 
the  Presidency  by  three  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
votes  in  a  total  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty-five. 
This  was  upon  the  thirty-sixth  ballot  of  the  nomi 
nating  Convention,  but  not  until  then  had  Garfield 
been  prominently  brought  forward.  His  nomi 
nation  was  at  once  made  unanimous  in  the  Con 
vention,  and  hailed  with  joy  throughout  the  land. 
His  chief  opponent  was  the  superb  soldier,  Major- 
General  Winfield  S.  Hancock,  but  Garfield  and 
Arthur  received  two  hundred  and  fourteen  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty-nine  electoral  votes  and 
secured  the  highest  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  na 
tion. 

Garfield  was  inaugurated  amid  general  satisfac 
tion  throughout  the  nation.  His  venerable  mother 
saw  her  son's  exaltation  on  that  memorable  In 
auguration  Day,  and  received  from  him,  as  the 
newly  made  President,  his  kiss  of  filial  love. 
Every  department  of  the  public  service  felt  the 
force  of  the  new  regime,  and  prosperity  beamed 
on  every  side  until  the  fatal  Saturday,  July  2d, 
1 88 1,  when  the  assassin's  bullet  cut  short  the  era 
of  joy  and  hopefulness  which  had  just  fairly 
dawned.  Of  the  subsequent  weeks  of  suffering 
and  anxiety,  through  which  that  valuable  life 
trembled  in  the  balance,  while  the  nation's  hopes 
and  fears  rose  and  fell  alternately,  and  of  the  sad, 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 


509 


sad  end  at  Elberon,  New  Jersey,  on  September 
29th,  the  world  is  well  informed.  The  wound 
then  made  in  the  nation's  heart  is  open  still,  and 
further  mention  need  not  here  be  made  of  those 
agonizing  and  still  fresh  experiences.  But  the 
fittest  tribute  that  can  here  be  paid  to  Garfield's 
memory  is  from  the  lips  of  his  intimate  associate  and 
fellow-worker,  Hon.  James  G.  Elaine.  By  request 
of  the  national  authorities,  he  delivered,  February 
27th,  1882,  the  official  eulogy  upon  the  deceased 
President.  All  the  magnates  of  the  capital  were 
present  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives  to  hear 
that  oration,  from  which  masterly  effort  the  follow 
ing  somewhat  disconnected,  but  none  the  less 
effective,  paragraphs  are  taken  : 

No  manly  man  feels  anything  of  shame  in 
looking  back  to  early  struggles  with  adverse  cir 
cumstances,  and  no  man  feels  a  worthier  pride  than 
when  he  has  conquered  the  obstacles  in  his  pro 
gress.  But  no  one  of  noble  mold  desires  to  be 
looked  upon  as  having  occupied  a  menial  position, 
as  having  been  repressed  by  a  feeling  of  inferiority, 
or  as  having  suffered  the  evils  of  poverty  until  re 
lief  was  found  at  the  hand  of  charity.  General 
Garfield's  youth  presented  no  hardships  which 
family  love  and  family  energy  did  not  overcome, 
subjected  him  to  no  privations  which  he  did  not 
cheerfully  accept,  and  left  no  memories  save  those 
which  were  recalled  with  delight  and  transmitted 
with  profit  and  with  pride. 


d  !  O  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

Garfield's  early  opportunities  for  securing  art 
education  were  extremely  limited,  and  yet  were 
sufficient  to  develop  in  him  an  intense  desire  td 
learn.  He  could  read  at  three  years  of  age,  and 
each  winter  he  had  the  advantage  of  the  district 
school.  He  read  all  the  books  to  be  found  within 
the  circle  of  his  acquaintance ;  some  of  them  he 
got  by  heart.  While  yet  in  childhood  he  was  a 
constant  student  of  the  Bible,  and  became  familiar 
with  its  literature.  The  dignity  and  earnestness 
of  his  speech  in  his  maturer  life  gave  evidence  of 
this  early  training.  At  eighteen  years  of  age  he 
was  able  to  teach  school,  and  thenceforward  his 
ambition  was  to  obtain  a  college  education.  To 
this  end  he  bent  all  his  efforts,  working  in  the  har 
vest  field,  at  the  carpenter's  bench,  and,  in  the 
winter  season,  teaching  the  common  schools  of 
the  neighborhood.  While  thus  laboriously  occu 
pied  he  found  time  to  prosecute  his  studies,  and 
was  so  successful  that  at  twenty-two  years  of  age 
he  was  able  to  enter  the  junior  class  at  Williams 
College,  then  under  the  presidency  of  the  vener 
able  and  honored  Mark  Hopkins,  who,  in  the  full 
ness  of  his  powers,  survives  the  eminent  pupil  to 
whom  he  was  of  inestimable  service. 

The  history  of  Garfield's  life  to  this  period  pre 
sents  no  novel  features.  He  had  undoubtedly 
shown  perseverance,  self-reliance,  self-sacrifice, 
and  ambition — qualities  which,  be  it  said  for  the 
honor  of  our  country,  are  everywhere  to  be  found 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD.  r  l  j 

among  the  young  men  of  America.  But  from  his 
graduation  at  Williams  onward,  to  the  hour  of 
his  tragical  death,  Garfield's  career  was  eminent 
and  exceptional.  Slowly  working  through  his 
educational  period,  receiving  his  diploma  when 
twenty-four  years  of  age,  he  seemed  at  one  bound 
to  spring  into  conspicuous  and  brilliant  success. 
Within  six  years  he  was  successively  president  of 
a  college,  State  Senator  of  Ohio,  Major-General 
of  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  and  Repre 
sentative-elect  to  the  National  Congress.  A 
combination  of  honors  so  varied,  so  elevated,  within 
a  period  so  brief,  and  to  a  man  so  young,  is  without 
precedent  or  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  country. 
Garfield's  army  life  was  begun  with  no  other 
military  knowledge  than  such  as  he  had  hastily 
gained  from  books  in  the  few  months  preceding 
his  march  to  the  field.  Stepping  from  civil  life  to 
the  head  of  a  regiment,  the  first  order  he  received 
when  ready  to  cross  the  Ohio,  was  to  assume  com 
mand  of  a  brigade,  and  to  operate  as  an  indepen 
dent  force  in  Eastern  Kentucky.  His  immediate 
duty  was  to  check  the  advance  of  Humphrey 
Marshall,  who  was  marching  down  the  Big  Sandy 
with  the  intention  of  occupying,  in  connection  with 
other  Confederate  forces,  the  entire  territory  of 
Kentucky,  and  of  precipitating  the  State  into  se 
cession.  This  was  at  the  close  of  the  year  186..., 
Seldom,  if  ever,  has  a  young  college  professor 
been  thrown  into  a  more  embarrassing  and  dis 


r  j  2  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

couraging  position.  He  knew  just  enough  of 
military  science,  as  he  expressed  it  himself,  to 
measure  the  extent  of  his  ignorance,  and  with  a 
handful  of  men  he  was  marching,  in  rough  winter 
weather,  into  a  strange  country,  among  a  hostile 
population,  to  confront  a  largely  superior  force 
under  the  command  of  a  distinguished  graduate 
of  West  Point,  who  had  seen  active  and  import 
ant  service  in  two  preceding  wars. 

The  result  of  the  campaign  is  matter  of  history. 
The  skill,  the  endurance,  the  extraordinary  energy 
shown  by  Garfield,  the  courage  he  imparted  to  his 
men,  raw  and  untried  as  himself,  the  measures  he 
adopted  to  increase  his  force  and  to  create  in  the 
enemy's  mind  exaggerated  estimates  of  his  num 
bers,  bore  perfect  fruit  in  the  routing  of  Marshall, 
the  capture  of  his  camp,  the  dispersion  of  his 
force,  and  the  emancipation  of  an  important 
territory  from  the  control  of  the  Rebellion.  Com 
ing  at  the  close  of  a  long  series  of  disasters  to 
the  Union  arms,  Garfield's  victory  had  an  unusual 
and  extraneous  importance,  and  in  the  popular 
judgment  elevated  the  young  commander  to  the 
rank  of  a  military  hero.  With  less  than  two 
thousand  men  in  his  entire  command,  with  a  mo 
bilized  force  of  only  eleven  hundred,  without  can 
non,  he  had  met  an  army  of  five  thousand  and 
defeated  them,  driving  Marshall's  forces  succes 
sively  from  two  strongholds  of  their  own  selec 
tion,  fortified  with  abundant  artillery.  Major- 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 


General  Buell,  commanding  the  Department  of 
the  Ohio,  an  experienced  and  able  soldier  of  the 
Regular  Army,  published  an  order  of  thanks  and 
congratulation  on  the  brilliant  result  of  the  Big 
Sandy  campaign,  which  would  have  turned  the 
head  of  a  less  cool  and  sensible  man  than  Gar- 
field.  Buell  declared  that  his  services  had  called 
into  action  the  highest  qualities  of  a  soldier,  and 
President  Lincoln  supplemented  these  words  of 
praise  by  the  more  substantial  reward  of  a  briga 
dier-general's  commission,  to  bear  date  from  the 
day  of  his  decisive  victory  over  Marshall. 

Early  in  1863,  Garfield  was  assigned  to  the 
highly  important  and  responsible  post  of  chief  of 
staff  to  General  Rosecrans,  then  at  the  head  of 
the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  Perhaps  in  a  great 
military  campaign,  no  subordinate  officer  requires 
sounder  judgment  and  quicker  knowledge  of  men 
than  the  chief  of  staff  to  the  commanding  general. 
An  indiscreet  man  in  such  a  position  can  sow  more 
discord,  breed  more  jealousy,  and  disseminate 
more  strife  than  any  other  officer  in  the  entire  or 
ganization.  When  General  Garfield  assumed  his 
new  duties  he  found  various  troubles  already  well 
developed,  and  seriously  affecting  the  value  and 
efficiency  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  The  en 
ergy,  the  impartiality,  and  the  tact  with  which  he 
sought  to  allay  these  dissensions,  and  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  his  new  and  trying  position,  will 
always  remain  one  of  the  most  striking  proofs  of 


r  T  .  OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

his  great  versatility.  His  military  duties  closed 
on  the  memorable  field  of  Chickamauga,  a  field 
which,  however  disastrous  to  the  Union  arms,  gave 
to  him  the  occasion  of  winning  imperishable  laurels. 
The  very  rare  distinction  was  accorded  him  of  a 
great  promotion  for  his  bravery  on  a  field  that 
was  lost.  President  Lincoln  appointed  him  a  ma 
jor-general  in  the  army  of  the  United  States  for 
gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  the  battle  of 
Chickamauga. 

The  Army  of  the  Cumberland  was  reorganized 
under  the  command  of  General  Thomas,  who 
promptly  offered  Garfield  one  of  its  divisions.  He 
was  extremely  desirous  to  accept  the  position,  but 
was  embarrassed  by  the  fact  that  he  had,  a  year 
before,  been  elected  to  Congress,  and  the  time 
when  he  must  take  his  seat  was  drawing  near. 
He  preferred  to  remain  in  the  military  service,  and 
had  within  his  own  breast  the  largest  confidence 
of  success  in  the  wider  field  which  his  new  rank 
opened  to  him.  Balancing  the  arguments  on  the 
one  side  and  the  other,  anxious  to  determine  what 
was  for  the  best,  desirous  above  all  things  to  do 
his  patriotic  duty,  he  was  decisively  influenced  by 
the  advice  of  President  Lincoln  and  Secretary 
Stanton,  both  of  whom  assured  him  that  he  could, 
at  that  time,  be  of  especial  value  in  the  House  of 
Representatives.  He  resigned  his  commission  of 
Major-General  on  the  fifth  day  of  December,  1863, 
and  took  his  seat  in  the  house  of  Representatives 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD. 


on  the  seventh.  He  had  served  two  years  and 
four  months  in  the  army,  and  had  just  completed 
his  thirty-second  year. 

The  Thirty-Eighth  Congress  is  pre-eminently 
entitled  in  history  to  the  designation  of  the  War 
Congress.  It  was  elected  while  the  war  was  fla 
grant,  and  every  member  was  chosen  upon  the  is 
sues  involved  in  the  continuance  of  the  struggle. 
The  Thirty-Seventh  Congress  had,  indeed,  legis 
lated  to  a  large  extent  on  war  measures,  but  it 
was  chosen  before  any  one  believed  that  secession 
of  the  States  would  be  actually  attempted.  The 
magnitude  of  the  work  which  fell  upon  its  suc 
cessor  was  unprecedented,  both  in  respect  to  the 
vast  sums  of  money  raised  for  the  support  of  the 
army  and  navy,  and  of  the  new  and  extraordinary 
powers  of  legislation  which  it  was  forced  to  ex 
ercise.  Only  twenty-four  States  were  represented, 
and  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  members  were 
upon  its  roll.  Among  these  were  many  dis 
tinguished  party  leaders  on  both  sides,  veterans 
in  the  public  service,  with  established  reputations 
for  ability,  and  with  that  skill  which  comes  only 
from  parliamentary  experience.  Into  this  assem 
blage  of  men  Garfield  entered  without  special 
preparation,  and  it  might  almost  be  said  unex 
pectedly.  The  question  of  taking  command  of  a 
division  of  troops  under  General  Thomas,  or  tak 
ing  his  seat  in  Congress,  was  kept  open  till  the 
last  moment — so  late,  indeed,  that  the  resignation 


516 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


of  his  military  commission  and  his  appearance  in 
the  House  were  almost  contemporaneous.  He 
wore  the  uniform  of  a  Major- General  of  the 
United  States  Army  on  Saturday,  and  on  Monday, 
in  civilian's  dress,  he  answered  to  the  roll-call  as  a 
Representative  in  Congress  from  the  State  of 
Ohio. 

With  possibly  a  single  exception,  Garfield  was 
the  youngest  member  in  the  House  when  he  en 
tered,  and  was  but  seven  years  from  his  college 
graduation.  But  he  had  not  been  in  his  seat  sixty 
days  before  his  ability  was  recognized  and  his  place 
conceded.  He  stepped  to  the  front  with  the  confi 
dence  of  one  who  belonged  there.  The  House 
was  crowded  with  strong  men  of  both  parties ; 
nineteen  of  them  have  since  been  transferred  to 
the  Senate,  and  many  of  them  have  served  with 
distinction  in  the  gubernatorial  chairs  of  their  re 
spective  States,  and  on  foreign  missions  of  great 
consequence ;  but  among  them  all  none  grew  so 
rapidly,  none  so  firmly  as  Garfield.  As  is  said  by 
Trevelyan  of  his  parliamentary  hero,  Garfield  suc 
ceeded  "  because  all  the  world  in  concert  could 
not  have  kept  him  in  the  background,  and  because 
when  once  in  the  front  he  played  his  part  with  a 
prompt  intrepidity  and  a  commanding  ease  that 
were  but  the  outward  symptoms  of  the  immense 
reserves  of  energy  on  which  it  was  in  his  power 
to  draw."  Indeed,  the  apparently  reserved  force 
which  Garfield  possessed  was  one  of  his  great 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 


characteristics.  He  never  did  so  well  but  that  it 
seemed  he  could  easily  have  done  better.  He 
never  expended  so  much  strength  but  that  he 
seemed  to  be  holding  additional  power  at  call. 
This  is  one  of  the  happiest  and  rarest  distinctions 
of  an  effective  debater,  and  often  counts  for  as 
much  in  persuading  an  assembly  as  the  eloquent 
and  elaborate  argument. 

The  great  measure  of  Garfield's  fame  was  filled 
by  his  service  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
His  military  life,  illustrated  by  honorable  perform 
ance,  and  rich  in  promise,  was,  as  he  himself  felt, 
prematurely  terminated,  and  necessarily  incom 
plete.  Speculation  as  to  what  he  might  have  done 
in  a  field  where  the  great  prizes  are  so  few,  cannot 
be  profitable.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that,  as  a  sol 
dier,  he  did  his  duty  bravely;  he  did  it  intelligently; 
he  won  an  enviable  fame,  and  he  retired  from  the 
service  without  blot  or  breath  against  him.  As  a 
lawyer,  though  admirably  equipped  for  the  pro 
fession,  he  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  entered  on 
its  practice.  The  few  efforts  he  made  at  the  bar 
were  distinguished  by  the  same  high  order  of  talent 
which  he  exhibited  on  every  field  where  he  was 
put  to  the  test,  and  if  a  man  may  be  accepted  as  a 
competent  judge  of  his  own  capacities  and  adapta 
tions,  the  law  was  the  profession  to  which  Garfield 
should  have  devoted  himself.  But  fate  ordained 
otherwise,  and  his  reputation  in  history  will  rest 
largely  upon  his  service  in  the  House  of  Repre- 


518 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


sentatives,  to  a  place  La  which  he  was  chosen  for 
nine  consecutive  terms, 

Garfield's  nomination  to  the  Presidency,  while 
not  predicted  or  anticipated,  was  not  a  surprise  to 
the  country.  His  prominence  in  Congress,  his 
solid  qualities,  his  wide  reputation,  strengthened 
by  his  then  recent  election  as  Senator  from  Ohio, 
kept  him  in  the  public  eye  as  a  man  occupying  the 
very  highest  rank  among  those  entitled  to  be 
called  statesmen.  It  was  not  mere  chance  that 
brought  him  this  high  honor.  "We  must,"  says 
Mr.  Emerson,  "  reckon  success  a  constitutional 
trait.  If  Eric  is  in  robust  health,  and  has  slept 
well,  and  is  at  the  top  of  his  condition,  and  thirty 
years  old  at  his  departure  from  Greenland,  he  will 
steer  west,  and  his  ships  will  reach  Newfoundland. 
But  take  Eric  out,  and  put  in  a  stronger  and  bolder 
man,  and  the  ships  will  sail  six  hundred,  one  thou 
sand,  fifteen  hundred  miles  farther,  and  reach  Lab 
rador  and  New  England.  There  is  no  chance  in 
results." 

As  a  candidate,  Garfield  steadily  grew  in  popu 
lar  favor.  He  was  met  with  a  storm  of  detraction 
at  the  very  hour  of  his  nomination,  and  it  con 
tinued  with  increasing  volume  and  momentum 
until  the  close  of  his  victorous  campaign: — 

"  No  might  nor  greatness  in  mortality 
Can  censure  'scape;  back-wounding  calumny 
The  whitest  virtue  strikes.     What  king  so  strong 
Can  tie  the  gall  up  in  the  slanderous  tongue  ?" 


Z  A.  GARFIELb. 


Under  it  all  he  was  calm,  and  strong,  and  confi 
dent;  never  lost  his  self-possession,  did  no  unwise 
act,  spoke  no  hasty  or  ill-considered  word.  In 
deed,  nothing  in  his  whole  life  is  more  remark 
able  or  more  creditable  than  his  bearing  through 
those  five  full  months  of  vituperation  —  a  prolonged 
agony  of  trial  to  a  sensitive  man,  a  constant  and 
cruel  draft  upon  the  powers  of  moral  endurance. 
The  great  mass  of  these  unjust  imputations  passed 
unnoticed,  and  with  the  general  debris  of  the  cam 
paign  fell  into  oblivion.  But  in  a  few  instances 
the  iron  entered  his  soul,  and  he  died  with  the  in 
jury  unforgotten,  if  not  unforgiven. 

One  aspect  of  Garfield's  candidacy  was  unpre 
cedented.  Never  before,  in  the  history  of  partisan 
contests  in  this  country,  had  a  successful  Presiden 
tial  candidate  spoken  freely  on  passing  events  and 
current  issues.  To  attempt  anything  of  the  kind 
seemed  novel,  rash,  and  even  desperate.  The 
older  class  of  voters  recalled  the  unfortunate  Ala 
bama  letter,  in  which  Mr.  Clay  was  supposed  to 
have  signed  his  political  death  warrant.  They  re 
membered  also  the  hot-tempered  effusion  by 
which  General  Scott  lost  a  large  share  of  his 
popularity  before  his  nomination,  and  the  unfor 
tunate  speeches  which  rapidly  consumed  the  re 
mainder.  The  younger  voters  had  seen  Mr. 
Greeley  in  a  series  of  vigorous  and  original  ad 
dresses,  preparing  the  pathway  for  his  own  defeat. 
Unmindful  of  these  warnings,  unheeding  the  ad- 


r2O  OUR  FORMER     PRESIDENTS. 

vice  of  friends,  Garfield  spoke  to  large  crowds  as 
he  journeyed  to  and  from  New  York  in  August, 
to  a  great  multitude  in  that  city,  to  delegations 
and  deputations  of  every  kind  that  called  at  Mentor 
during  the  summer  and  autumn.  With  innumer 
able  critics,  watchful  and  eager  to  catch  a  phrase 
that  might  be  turned  into  odium  or  ridicule,  or  a 
sentence  that  might  be  distorted  to  his  own  or 
his  party's  injury,  Garfield  did  not  trip  or  halt  in 
any  one  of  his  seventy  speeches.  This  seems  all 
the  more  remarkable  when  it  is  remembered  that 
he  did  not  write  what  he  said,  and  yet  spoke  with 
such  logical  consecutiveness  of  thought,  and  such 
admirable  precision  of  phrase  as  to  defy  the  acci 
dent  of  misreport,  and  the  malignity  of  misrepre 
sentation. 

In  <the  beginning  of  his  Presidential  life,  Gar- 
field's  experience  did  not  yield  him  pleasure  or 
satisfaction.  The  duties  that  engross  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  President's  time  were  distasteful  to 
him,  and  were  unfavorably  contrasted  with  his 
legislative  work.  "  I  have  been  dealing  all  these 
years  with  ideas,"  he  impatiently  exclaimed  one  day, 
"  and  here  I  am  dealing  only  with  persons.  I  have 
been  heretofore  treating  of  the  fundamental  prin 
ciples  of  government,  and  here  I  am  considering 
all  day  whether  A  or  B  shall  be  appointed  to  this 
or  that  office."  He  was  earnestly  seeking  some 
practical  way  of  correcting  the  evils  arising  from 
the  distribution  of  overgrown  and  unwieldy  pat- 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 


521 


ronage — evils  always  appreciated  and  often  dis 
cussed  by  him,  but  whose  magnitude  had  been  more 
deeply  impressed  upon  his  mind  since  his  acces 
sion  to  the  Presidency.  Had  he  lived,  a  compre 
hensive  improvement  in  the  mode  of  appointments 
would  have  been  proposed  by  him. 

Garfield's  ambition  for  the  success  of  his  ad 
ministration  was  high.  With  strong  caution  and 
conservatism  in  his  nature,  he  was  in  no  danger 
of  attempting  rash  experiments  or  of  resorting  to 
the  empiricism  of  statesmanship.  But  he  believed 
that  renewed  and  closer  attention  should  be  given 
to  questions  affecting  the  material  interests  and 
commercial  prospects  of  fifty  millions  of  people. 
He  believed  that  our  continental  relations,  exten 
sive  and  undeveloped  as  they  are,  involved  re 
sponsibility,  and  could  be  cultivated  into  profitable 
friendship  or  be  abandoned  to  harmless  indiffer 
ence  or  lasting  enmity.  He  believed  with  equal 
confidence  that  an  essential  forerunner  to  a  new 
era  of  national  progress  must  be  a  feeling  of  con 
tentment  in  every  section  of  the  Union,  and  a 
generous  belief  that  the  benefits  and  burdens  of 
government  would  be  common  to  all.  Himself  a 
conspicuous  illustration  of  what  ability  and  am 
bition  may  do  under  republican  institutions,  he 
loved  his  country  with  a  passion  of  patriotic  de 
votion,  and  every  waking  thought  was  given  to 
her  advancement.  He  was  an  American  in  all 
his  aspirations,  and  he  looked  to  the  destiny  and 


OUR  FORMER 


influence  of  the  United  States  with  the  philosophic 
composure  of  Jefferson  and  the  demonstrative 
confidence  of  John  Adams. 

The  religious  element  in    Garfield's  character 

o 

was  deep  and  earnest.  In  his  early  youth,  he 
espoused  the  faith  of  the  Disciples,  a  sect  of  that 
great  Baptist  Communion,  which,  in  different 
ecclesiastical  establishments,  is  so  numerous  and 
so  influential  throughout  all  parts  of  the  United 
States.  But  the  broadening  tendency  of  his  mind 
and  his  active  spirit  of  inquiry  were  early  appar 
ent  and  carried  him  beyond  the  dogmas  of  sect 
and  the  restraints  of  association.  In  selecting  a 
college  in  which  to  continue  his  education  he 
rejected  Bethany,  though  presided  over  by  Alex 
ander  Campbell,  the  greatest  preacher  of  his 
Church.  His  reasons  were  characteristic  :  first^ 
that  Bethany  leaned  too  heavily  towards  slavery  ; 
and,  second,  that  being  himself  a  Disciple  and  the 
son  of  Disciple  parents,  he  had  little  acquaintance 
with  people  of  other  beliefs,  and  he  thought  it 
would  make  him  more  liberal,  quoting  his  own 
words,  both  in  his  religious  and  general  views,  to 
go  into  a  new  circle  and  be  under  new  influences. 
The  liberal  tendency  which  he  anticipated  as  the 
result  of  wider  culture  was  fully  realized.  He 
was  emancipated  from  mere  sectarian  belief,  and 
with  eager  interest  pushed  his  investigations  in 
the  direction  of  modern  progressive  thought.  He 
followed  with  quickening  step  into  the  paths  of 


JAMES  A.  GAR  FIELD. 

Exploration  and  speculation  so  fearlessly  trodden 
by  Darwin,  by  Huxley,  by  Tyndall,  and  by  other 
living  scientists  of  the  radical  and  advanced  type. 
His  own  Church,  binding  its  disciples  by  no  for 
mulated  creed,  but  accepting  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  as  the  word  of  God,  with  unbiased 
liberty  of  private  interpretation,  favored,  if  it  did 
not  stimulate,  the  spirit  of  investigation.  Its  mem 
bers  profess  with  sincerity,  and  profess  only,  to  be 
of  one  mind  and  of  one  faith  with  those  who  im 
mediately  followed  the  Master,  and  who  were  first 
called  Christians  at  Antioch. 

But  however  high  Garfield  reasoned  of  " fixed 
fate,  free  will,  foreknowledge  absolute,"  he  was 
never  separated  from  the  Church  of  the  Disciples 
in  his  affections  and  in  his  associations.  For  him 
it  held  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  To  him  it  was 
the  gate  of  Heaven.  The  world  of  religious  belief  is 
full  of  solecisms  and  contradictions.  A  philoso 
phic  observer  declares  that  men  by  the  thousand 
will  die  in  defense  of  a  creed  whose  doctrines 
they  do  not  comprehend  and  whose  tenets  they 
habitually  violate.  It  is  equally  true  that  men  by 
the  thousand  will  cling  to  Church  organizations 
with  instinctive  and  undying  fidelity  when  their 
belief  in  maturer  years  is  radically  different  from 
that  which  inspired  them  as  neophytes. 

But  after  this  range  of  speculation,  and  this 
latitude  of  doubt,  Garfield  came  back  always  with 
freshness  and  delight  to  the  simpler  instincts  of 


OVR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


religious  faith,  which,  earliest  implanted,  longest 
survive.  Not  many  weeks  before  his  assassina 
tion,  walking  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  with  a 
friend,  and  conversing  on  those  topics  of  personal 
religion  concerning  which  noble  natures  have  an 
unconquerable  reserve,  he  said  that  he  found  the 
Lord's  Prayer  and  the  simple  petitions  learned  in 
infancy  infinitely  restful  to  him,  not  merely  in  their 
stated  repetition,  but  in  their  casual  and  frequent 
recall  as  he  went  about  the  daily  duties  of  life. 
Certain  texts  of  Scripture  had  a  very  strong  hold 
on  his  memory  and  his  heart.  He  heard,  while  in 
Edinburgh  some  years  ago,  an  eminent  Scotch 
preacher  who  prefaced  his  sermon  with  reading 
the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans, 
which  book  had  been  the  subject  of  careful  study 
with  Garfield  during  all  his  religious  life.  He  was 
greatly  impressed  by  the  elocution  of  the  preacher 
and  declared  that  it  had  imparted  a  new  and 
deeper  meaning  to  the  majestic  utterances  of 
St.  Paul  He  referred  often  in  after  years  to 
that  memorable  service,  and  dwelt  with  exaltation 
of  feeling  upon  the  radiant  promise  and  the  as 
sured  hope  with  which  the  great  Apostle  of  the 
Gentiles  was  "persuaded  that  neither  death,  nor 
life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor 
things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  height, 
nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able 
to  separate  us  irom  the  love  of  God,  which 
is  in  Christ  Jesus  GUI  Lord." 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD.  r  2  c 

The  crowning  characteristic  of  General  Gar- 
field's  religious  opinions,  as,  indeed,  of  all  his  opin 
ions,  was  his  liberality.  In  all  things  he  had  char 
ity.  Tolerance  was  of  his  nature.  He  respected 
in  others  the  qualities  which  he  possessed  himself, 
sincerity  of  conviction  and  frankness  of  expres 
sion.  With  him  the  inquiry  was  not  so  much  what 
a  man  believes,  but  does  he  believe  it  ?  The  lines 
of  his  friendship  and  his  confidence  encircled  men 
of  every  creed,  and  men  of  no  creed,  and  to  the 
end  of  his  life,  on  his  ever-lengthening  list  of 
friends,  were  to  be  found  the  names  of  a  pious 
Catholic  priest  and  of  an  honest-minded  and  gen 
erous-hearted  free-thinker. 

On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  July  2d,  the  Presi 
dent  was  a  contented  and  happy  man — not  in  an 
ordinary  degree,  but  joyfully,  almost  boyishly 
happy.  On  his  way  to  the  railroad  station,  to 
which  he  drove  slowly,  in  conscious  enjoyment  of 
the  beautiful  morning,  with  an  unwonted  sense  of 
leisure  and  a  keen  anticipation  of  pleasure,  his 
talk  was  all  in  the  grateful  and  gratulatory  vein. 
He  felt  that  after  four  months  of  trial  his  adminis 
tration  was  strong  in  its  grasp  of  affairs,  strong  in 
popular  favor,  and  destined  to  grow  stronger ; 
that  grave  difficulties  confronting  him  at  his  in 
auguration  had  been  safely  passed ;  that  trouble 
lay  behind  him  and  not  before  him ;  that  he  was 
soon  to  meet  the  wife  whom  he  loved,  now  recov 
ering  from  an  illness  which  had  but  lately  disqui- 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


eted  and  at  times  almost  unnerved  him  ;  that  he 
was  going-  to  his  Alma  Mater  to  renew  the  most 
cherished  associations  of  his  young  manhood,  and 
to  exchange  greetings  with  those  whose  deepen 
ing  interest  had  followed  every  step  of  his  upward 
progress  from  the  day  he  entered  upon  his  college 
course  until  he  had  attained  the  loftiest  elevation 
in  the  gift  of  his  countrymen. 

Surely,  if  happiness  can  ever  come  from  the 
honors  or  triumphs  of  this  world,  on  that  quiet 
July  morning  James  A.  Garfield  may  well  have 
been  a  happy  man.  No  foreboding  of  evil  haunted 
him  ;  no  slightest  premonition  of  danger  clouded 
his  sky.  His  terrible  fate  was  upon  him  in  an 
instant.  One  moment  he  stood  erect,  strong,  con 
fident  in  the  years  stretching  peacefully  out  before 
him  ;  the  next  he  lay  wounded,  bleeding,  helpless, 
doomed  to  weary  weeks  of  torture,  to  silence,  and 
the  grave. 

Great  in  life,  he  was  surpassingly  great  in  death. 
For  no  cause,  in  the  very  frenzy  of  wantonness 
and  wickedness,  by  the  red  hand  of  murder,  he 
was  thrust  from  the  full  tide  of  this  world's  interest, 
from  its  hopes,  its  aspirations,  its  victories,  into  the 
visible  presence  of  death  —  and  he  did  not  quail. 
Not  alone  for  the  one  short  moment  in  which, 
stunned  and  dazed,  he  could  give  up  life,  hardly 
aware  of  its  relinquishment,  but  through  days  of 
deadly  languor,  through  weeks  of  agony,  that  was 
not  less  agony  because  silently  borne,  with  clear 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD.  ,-27 

sight  and  calm  courage,  he  looked  into  his  open 
grave.  What  blight  and  ruin  met  his  anguished 
eyes,  whose  lips  may  tell  ? — what  brilliant,  broken 
plans  ;  what  baffled,  high  ambitions  ;  what  sunder 
ing  of  strong,  warm,  manhood's  friendships;  what 
bitter  rending  of  sweet  household  ties  !  Behind 
him  a  proud,  expectant  nation,  a  great  host  of  sus 
taining  friends,  a  cherished  and  happy  mother, 
wearing  the  full,  rich  honors  of  her  early  toil  and 
tears  ;  the  wife  of  his  youth,  whose  whole  life  lay 
in  his ;  the  little  boys  not  yet  emerged  from 
childhood's  days  of  frolic ;  the  fair  young  daughter  ; 
the  sturdy  sons  just  springing  into  closest  com 
panionship,  claiming"  every  day  and  every  day 
rewarding  a  father's  love  and  care ;  and  in  his 
heart  the  eager,  rejoicing  power  to  meet  all 
demands.  Before  him,  desolation  and  great  dark 
ness  !  And  his  soul  was  not  shaken.  His  coun 
trymen  were  thrilled  with  instant,  profound,  and 
universal  sympathy.  Masterful  in  his  mortal 
weakness,  he  became  the  centre  of  a  nation's  love, 
enshrined  in  the  prayers  of  a  world.  But  all  the 
love  and  all  the  sympathy  could  not  share  with 
him  his  suffering.  He  trod  the  wine-press  alone. 
With  unfaltering  front  he  faced  death.  With 
unfailing  tenderness  he  took  leave  of  life.  Above 
the  demoniac  hiss  of  the  assassin's  bullet  he  heard 
the  voice  of  God.  With  simple  resignation  he 
bowed  to  the  Divine  decree. 

As  the  end  drew  near,  his  early  craving  for  the 


528 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 


sea  returned.  The  stately  mansion  of  power  had 
been  to  him  the  wearisome  hospital  of  pain,  and 
he  begged  to  be  taken  from  its  prison  walls,  from 
its  oppressive,  stifling  air,  from  its  homelessness 
and  its  hopelessness.  Gently,  silently,  the  love  of 
a  great  people  bore  the  pale  sufferer  to  the  longed- 
for  healing  of  the  sea,  to  live  or  to  die,  as  God 
should  will,  within  sight  of  its  heaving  billows, 
within  sound  of  its  manifold  voices.  With  wan, 
fevered  face  tenderly  lifted  to  the  cooling  breeze, 
he  looked  out  wistfully  upon  the  ocean's  changing 
wonders ;  on  its  far  sails,  whitening  in  the  morn 
ing  light ;  on  its  restless  waves,  rolling  shoreward 
to  break  and  die  beneath  the  noonday  sun  ;  on  the 
red  clouds  of  evening,  arching  low  in  the  horizon  ; 
on  the  serene  and  shining  pathway  of  the  stars. 
Let  us  think  that  his  dying  eyes  read  a  mystic  mean 
ing  which  only  the  rapt  and  parting  soul  may  know. 
Let  us  believe  that  in  the  silence  of  the  receding 
world  he  heard  the  great  waves  breaking  on  a 
farther  shore,  and  felt  already  upon  his  wasted 
brow  the  breath  of  the  eternal  morning. 

After  extended  and  most  impressive  funeral 
obsequies,  President  Garfield's  mortal  remains 
were  laid  to  rest  in  Lake  View  Cemetery  in  the 
fair  City  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  on  Monday,  Sep 
tember  26th,  1 88 1,  and  thus  a  new  shrine  was 
reared  to  which  the  patriotic  hearts  of  America 
will  never  cease  to  turn  with  profound  interest 


CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR. 


CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR. 

THE  exodus  from  foreign  lands  to  this  coun 
try  has  at  all  times  since  the  early  years 
of  the  present  century  been  remarkable 
for  its  steadiness — though  varying  during  the  de 
cades.     A  home  in  freedom  and  a  chance  for  a 
fortune  in  climes  where  centuries  have  not  bound 
with  iron  every  man's  position  is  always  an  incen 
tive  to  brave  spirits. 

Among  those  who  took  the  tide  in  its  flow,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  twenties,  was  a  young  Pro 
testant  Irishman  from  Ballymena,  County  Antrim, 
who  bore  the  name  of  William  Arthur.  He  was 
eighteen  years  of  age,  a  graduate  of  Belfast  Col 
lege,  and  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  intention  of 
becoming  a  Baptist  clergyman.  In  this  he  perse 
vered,  was  admitted  to  the  ministry,  took  a  degree 
of  D.D.,  and  followed  a  career  of  great  usefulness, 
which  did  not  terminate  until  he  died,  at  Newton- 
ville,  near  Albany,  October  27th,  1875.  He  was 
in  many  respects  a  remarkable  man.  He  acquired 
a  wide  fame  in  his  chosen  career,  and  entered  suc 
cessfully  the  great  competition  of  authors.  He 
published  a  work  on  Family  Names  that  is  to 
day  regarded  as  one  of  the  curiosities  of  English 
erudite  literature. 

He  married,  not  long  after  entering  the  minis 
try,  an  American,  Malvina  Stone,  who  bore  him 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

a  family  of  two  sons  and  five  daughters.  Of 
these,  Chester  Allan,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
was  born  at  Fairfield,  Franklin  County,  Vermont, 
October  5th,  1830.  From  his  home  studies  he 
went  to  a  wider  field  of  instruction  in  the  insti 
tutions  of  Schenectady,  in  the  grammar  school  of 
which  place  he  was  prepared  for  entering  Union 
College.  This  he  did  at  the  age  of  fifteen  (1845), 
and  took  successfully  the  regular  course,  excelling 
in  all  his  studies  and  graduating  very  high  in  the 
class  of  1848. 

On  graduating  he  entered  the  law  school  at  Ball- 
ston  Springs.  By  rigid  economy  and  hard  work,  he 
had  managed  to  save  five  hundred  dollars,  and  with 
this  in  his  pocket  he  went  to  New  York,  and  entered 
the  law  office  of  Erastus  D.  Culver,  afterward  minis 
ter  to  one  of  the  South  American  States  and  a  judge 
of  the  Civil  Court  of  Brooklyn.  Soon  after  entering 
Judge  Culver's  office,  he  was — in  1852 — admitted 
to  the  bar,  and  formed  the  firm  of  Culver,  Partsen 
&  Arthur,  which  was  dissolved  in  1837.  No  sooner 
had  he  won  his  title  to  appear  in  the  courts,  than 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  an  old  friend,  Henry 
D.  Gardner,  with  an  intention  of  practicing  in  the 
West,  and  for  three  months  these  young  gentle 
men  roamed  through  the  Western  States  in  search 
of  a  place  to  locate.  In  the  end,  not  satisfied,  they 
returned  to  New  York  and  began  practice. 

The  law  career  of  Mr.  Arthur  includes  some 
notable  cases.  One  of  his  first  cases  was  the  cele- 


CHESTER  A.   ARTHUR. 

brated  Lemmon  suit.  In  1852,  Jonathan  and  Juliet 
Lemmon,  Virginia  slaveholders,  intending  to  emi 
grate  to  Texas,  went  to  New  York  to  await  the 
sailing  of  a  steamer,  bringing  eight  slaves  with 
them.  A  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  obtained  from 
Judge  Paine  to  test  the  question  whether  the 
provisions  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  were  in  force 
in  that  State.  Judge  Paine  rendered  a  decision 
holding  that  they  were  not,  and  ordering  the  Lem 
mon  slaves  to  be  liberated.  Henry  L.  Clinton 
was  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  slaveholders.  A 
howl  of  rage  went  up  from  the  South,  and  the 
Virginia  Legislature  authorized  the  Attorney- 
General  of  that  State  to  assist  in  taking  an  appeal. 
William  M.  Evarts  and  Chester  A.  Arthur  were 
employed  to  represent  the  people,  and  they  won 
their  case,  which  then  went  to  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.  Charles  O'Conor  here 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  slaveholders,  but  he, 
too,  was  beaten  by  Messrs.  Evarts  and  Arthur, 
and  a  long  step  was  thus  taken  toward  the 
emancipation  of  the  black  race. 

Mr.  Arthur  always  took  an  interest  in  politics 
and  the  political  surroundings  of  his  day.  His 
political  life  began  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  as  a 
champion  of  the  Whig  party.  He  shared,  too,  in 
the  turbulence  of  political  life  at  that  period,  and 
it  is  related  of  him  during  the  Polk-Clay  canvass 
that,  while  he  and  some  of  his  companions  were 
raising  an  ash  pole  in  honor  of  Henry  Clay,  some 


OUR  FORMER  PRESIDENTS. 

Democratic  boys  attacked  the  party  of  Whigs, 
and  young  Arthur,  who  was  the  recognized  leader 
of  the  party,  ordered  a  charge,  and,  taking  the 
front  ranks  himself,  drove  the  young  Democrats 
from  the  field  with  broken  heads  and  subdued 
spirits.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Saratoga  Con 
vention  that  founded  the  Republican  party  in  New 
York  State.  .  He  was  active  in  local  politics,  and 
he  gradually  became  one  of  the  leaders.  He 
nominated,  and  by  his  efforts  elected,  the  Hon. 
Thomas  Murphy  a  State  Senator.  When  the 
latter  resigned  the  Collectorship  of  the  Port,  in 
November,  1871,  Arthur  was  appointed  by  Presi 
dent  Grant  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

He  was  nominated  for  the  Vice-Presidency  at 
Chicago  on  the  evening  of  Tuesday,  June  loth. 
He  was  heartily  indorsed  by  the  popular  and 
electoral  vote,  and  on  the  death  of  President 
Garfield,  September  i9th,  1881,  he  assumed  the 
Presidential  chair.  His  Administration  has  been 
an  uneventful  one,  attended  with-  general  peace 
and  prosperity. 


• 


PRESIDENT    ARTHUR. 


THE 

CITIZEN'S  HANDBOOK 

OF 

VALUABLE  FACTS  FOR  CAMPAIGN  WORK, 


"In  order  to  have  any  success  in  life,  or  any  worthy 
success,  you  must  resolve  'to  carry  into  your  work  a  full 
ness  of  Knowledge — not  merely  a  Sufficiency,  but  more 
than  a  Sufficiency. ' ' 

James  A.  Garfield. 


PRESIDENTIAL  CONTESTS. 


535 


BIRD'S-EYE    VIEW   OF   THE   PRESIDENTIAL 
CONTESTS. 

Washington,  Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  and  Jackson  were  chosen  to  the  Presidency 
without  the  machinery  of  either  State  or  National  Conven 
tions  for  their  nomination. 

WASHINGTON  was  chosen  by  common  consent  and  demand, 
receiving  the  unanimous  electoral  vote,  sixty-nine,  ten  States 
only  voting,  New  York,  North  Carolina,  and  Rhode  Island 
not  having  adopted  the  Constitution  or  framed  election  laws, 
and  four  qualified  delegates  being  absent.  At  his  second 
election  he  received  all  the  votes  but  three,  viz. :  one  hundred 
and  thirty-two  out  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five,  fifteen 
States  voting.  In  1789,  eleven  other  persons  were  voted  for 
on  the  same  ballots  with  Washington,  he  who  received  the  next 
highest  vote  to  be  the  Vice-President,  as  was  the  rule  until 
1804.  John  Adams  was  thus  chosen  by  thirty-four  votes  over 
the  following  competitors :  John  Jay,  R.  H.  Harrison,  John 
Rutledge,  John  Hancock,  George  Clinton,  Samuel  Hunt 
ingdon,  John  Milton,  James  Armstrong,  Benjamin  Lincoln, 
and  Edward  Telfair.  In  1792,  John  Adams  was  again  chosen 
Vice-President,  by  seventy-seven  out  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-two  votes,  over  George  Clinton,  Thomas  Jefferson,  and 
Aaron  Burr.  Adams  represented  the  Federalist  or  Adminis 
tration  party  of  the  day,  the  opposition  being  then  known 
as  the  Republican  party. 

ADAMS,  having  twice  held  the  Vice-Presidency,  was  thought 
to  have  a  claim  on  the  higher  position,  and  in  1796,  sixteen 
States  voting,  he  received  seventy-one  electoral  votes,  Jeffer 
son  receiving  sixty-eight,  and  becoming  Vice-President  over 
Thomas  Pinckney,  Aaron  Burr,  Samuel  Adams,  Oliver  Ells 
worth,  George  Clinton,  John  Jay,  James  Iredell,  George 
Washington,  John  Henry,  S.  Johnson,  and  Charles  C.  Pinck 
ney,  for  each  of  whom  from  one  to  fifty-nine  electoral  votes 


PRESIDENTIAL  CONTESTS. 

were  cast.  The  successful  candidates  represented  the  two 
parties  of  the  day.  In  1800,  the  parties  in  Congress  each 
held  a  caucus  and  each  nominated  its  own  candidates. 

JEFFERSON  was  chosen  President  in  1800,  on  the  thirty- 
sixth  ballot  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  he  and  Aaron 
Burr  having  a  tie  vote  of  seventy-three  in  the  Electoral  Col 
lege,  sixteen  States  voting.  Burr  then  became  Vice-President 
over  John  Adams,  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  and  John  Jay,  who 
represented  the  Federalists.  In  1803,  the  Constitution  was 
amended  prescribing  the  present  method  of  choosing  the 
nation's  chief  officers.  After  this  for  a  long  period  the  Re 
publican  party  and  its  successor,  the  Democratic  party,  had 
things  as  they  pleased.  In  1804,  Jefferson  was  re-elected 
over  Charles  C.  Pinckney  by  one  hundred  and  sixty-two 
votes  to  fourteen,  George  Clinton  becoming  Vice-President 
over  Rufus  King.  This  was  a  result  of  the  Congressional 
caucus.  Seventeen  States  voted. 

MADISON,  the  nominee  of  the  Republican  caucus,  received 
one  hundred  and  twenty-two  electoral  votes  in  1808,  seventeen 
Statesvoting,  his  opponent,  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  receiving  but 
fourteen,  and  George  Clinton,  another  candidate,  receiving 
none.  Clinton  received  one  hundred  and  thirteen  votes  for  the 
Vice-Presidency,  however,  and  was  chosen  over  Rufus  King, 
John  Langdon,  James  Madison,  and  James  Monroe. 

In  1812,  Madison  received  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
electoral  votes  out  of  two  hundred  and  eighteen,  eighteen 
States  voting,  De  Witt  Clinton  receiving  eighty-nine  votes. 
Elbridge  Gerry  was  chosen  to  the  second  place  by  one  hun 
dred  and  thirty-one  votes,  Jared  Ingersoll  receiving  eighty-six. 

MONROE  was  twice  lifted  into  power  by  the  caucus,  receiv 
ing  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  votes  to  thirty-four  for 
Rufus  King,  in  1816,  and  two  hundred  and  thirty-one  to  one 
only  for  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  1820,  nineteen  States  voting 
in  the  first  election  and  twenty-four  in  the  second.  D.  D. 
Tompkins  received  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  votes  for 


PRESIDENTIAL  CONTESTS 


537 


Vice-President  in  1816,  and  two  hundred  and  eighteen  in 
1820,  his  competitors  in  the  first  race  being  John  E.  Howard, 
James  Ross,  John  Marshall,  and  Robert  G.  Harper,  and  in 
the  second  Richard  Stockton,  Daniel  Rodney,  Robert  G.  Har 
per,  and  Richard  Rush.  At  the  end  of  Monroe's  term  parties 
began  to  break  up  and  new  combinations  to  form  under  lead 
of  the  State  Legislatures,  several  of  which  brought  out  their 
favorite  sons. 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS  was  the  Coalition  nominee  of  Massa 
chusetts  in  1824.  Jackson  was  put  forward  by  Tennessee,  as 
were  William  H.  Crawford  and  Henry  Clay  by  their  respective 
States ;  twenty-four  States  voted  in  this  contest,  having  two  hun 
dred  and  sixty-one  electoral  votes,  of  which  Jackson  received 
ninety-nine,  and  Adams  eighty-four,  the  remainder  being 
divided  among  the  other  two  candidates.  No  choice  being 
made,  the  House  of  Representatives  settled  the  contest,  giving 
Adams  thirteen  States,  Jackson  seven  States,  and  Crawford 
four  States.  Jackson's  popular  vote  was  one  hundred  and 
fifty-five  thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-two ;  that  of 
Adams,  one  hundred  and  five  thousand  three  hundred  and 
twenty-one,  while  Crawford  and  Clay  together  polled  ninety 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-nine.  A  tempest  of  ill-feel 
ing  was  begotten  by  this  decision.  John  C.  Calhoun  was  chosen 
Vice-President,  however,  receiving  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
two  votes,  his  opponents  being  Nathan  Sanford,  Nathaniel 
Macon,  Andrew  Jackson,  Martin  Van  Buren,  and  Henry  Clay. 

JACKSON  was  so  enraged  by  his  defeat  that  he  left  the  Senate 
and  threw  all  his  tremendous  energy  into  the  campaign  of 
1828,  he  being  the  leader  of  the  newly  formed  Demociatic 
party.  Twenty-four  States  voted,  with  two  hundred  and 
sixty- one  electoral  votes,  of  which  Jackson  secured  one  hun 
dred  and  seventy-eight,  to  eighty-three  for  Adams,  and  a 
popular  vote  of  six  hundred  and  forty-seven  thousand  two 
hundred  and  thirty-one,  to  five  hundred  and  nine  thousand 
and  ninety-seven  for  Adams.  Calhoun  again  became  Vice- 
President  by  one  hundred  and  seventy-one  votes,  Richacd 


538 

Rush  and  William  Smith  being  his  vanquished  rivals.  In 
1832,  Jackson  again  swept  the  board,  receiving  two  hundred 
and  nineteen  electoral  votes  and  six  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty-one  popular  votes,  Henry 
Clay,  the  National  Republican  candidate,  receiving  forty-nine 
electoral  votes,  and  five  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  one 
hundred  and  eighty-nine  popular  votes.  John  Floyd  and 
William  Wirt  received  some  thirty-three  thousand  votes  from 
the  people  and  eighteen  from  the  electors.  Martin  Van 
Buren  became  Vice-President  in  Jackson's  second  term,  re 
ceiving  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  votes,  his  competitors 
being  John  Sergeant,  Henry  Lee,  Amos  Ellmaker,  and 
William  Wilkins. 

The  Convention  system  was  born  under  Jackson's  Adminis 
tration.  Its  object  was  to  prevent  defeat  by  scattered  votes 
in  the  same  party  The  anti-Masonic  party  held  the  first 
gathering  of  the  sort,  William  Wirt  being  its  nominee.  The 
National  Republicans  followed  in  1831,  the  Democrats  in 
1832.  This  machinery  bore  its  first  fruits  in  Jackson's  second 
Presidential  campaign.  The  Whig  party  made  its  first  ap 
pearance  in  1836,  but  its  counsels  were  divided  and  it  lost. 

VAN  BUREN  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats,  and  in  1836, 
twenty-six  States  voting,  he  received  one  hundred  and  seventy 
electoral  votes,  four  Whig  candidates,  William  H.  Harrison, 
Hugh  L.  White,  Daniel  Webster,  and  W.  P.  Mangum  divid 
ing  among  themselves  eleven  electoral  votes.  Van  Buren  "s 
popular  vote  was  seven  hundred  and  sixty-one  thousand  five 
hundred  and  forty-nine;  that  of  all  others,  seven  hundred 
and  thirty-six  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-six.  R.  M. 
Johnson,  who  received  one  hundred  and  seventy  electoral 
votes  for  Vice-President,  not  receiving  a  majority  of  all,  was 
elected  by  the  Senate.  His  competitors  were  Francis 
Granger,  John  Tyler,  and  William  Smith. 

HARRISON,  in  1840,  received  a  popular  vote  of  one  million 
two  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  and  seventeen,  and  an 
electoral  vote  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-four,  as  did  John 


PRESIDENTIAL  CONTESTS.  539 

Tyler,  his  associate  on  the  Whig  ticket.  He  was  opposed  by 
Van  Buren,  who  polled  one  million  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  thousand  seven  hundred  and  two  popular  votes,  and 
sixty  of  the  electoral  college,  and  by  James  G.  Birney,  of  the 
Liberty  or  Abolition  party,  who  polled  seven  thousand  and 
fifty-nine  votes.  R.  M.  Johnson,  L.  W.  Tazewell,  and  James 
K.  Polk  were  candidates  for  the  Vice-Presidency,  receiving  in 
all  sixty  electoral  votes.  Twenty-six  States  voted.  Harrison's 
election  was  the  first  Whig  success,  and  the  campaign  preced 
ing  it  has  been  aptly  termed  "  the  great  national  frolic." 

POLK  was  chosen  President  in  1844  over  Birney,  the  Abo 
litionist,  and  Clay,  the  Whig,  receiving  a  popular  vote  of 
one  million  three  hundred  and  thirty-seven  thousand  two 
hundred  and  forty-three,  and  an  electoral  vote  of  one  hundred 
and  seventy,  to  Clay's  one  million  two  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine  thousand  and  sixty-eight  popular  and  one  hundred  and 
five  electoral,  Birney 's  vote  being  sixty-two  thousand  three 
hundred  popular  and  none  electoral.  For  Vice-President 
George  M.  Dallas  received  the  same  electoral  vote  as  Polk, 
and  Theodore  Frelinghuysen  the  same  as  Clay. 

TAYLOR  was  chosen  by  the  Whigs  in  1848,  Clay  and  Web 
ster  being  abandoned.  He  and  his  associate,  Millard  Fill- 
more,  received  each  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  electoral 
votes  and  a  popular  vote  of  one  million  three  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  one  hundred  and  one.  Lewis  Cass,  the  Demo 
cratic  nominee,  and  Wm.  O.  Butler,  his  associate,  were  re 
garded  as  a  weak  combination,  but  they  polled  one  million 
two  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  five  hundred  and  forty-four 
votes,  with  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  electors.  Van 
Buren  ran  on  the  Free  Soil  ticket  with  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
and  received  two  hundred  and  ninety-one  thousand  two 
hundred  and  sixty-three  votes,  thirty  States  voting.  Taylor 
died,  and  Fillmore  quarreled  with  his  party,  thus  impairing 
its  strength  sadly. 

PIERCE  rode  into  power  over  the  fragments  of  the  Whig 
party,  he  and  his  associate,  William  R.  King,  receiving  two 


54° 


PRESIDENTIAL  CONTESTS. 


hundred  and  fifty-four  electoral  and  one  million  six  hundred 
and  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-four  popular 
votes.  Winfield  Scott  and  William  A.  Graham,  the  Whig 
nominees,  received  forty-two  electoral  and  one  million  three 
hundred  and  eighty-six  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  popular  votes,  John  P.  Hale  and  George  W.  Julian, 
Free  Democrats,  polling  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  thousand 
one  hundred  and  forty-nine  suffrages.  This  contest  ended 
the  Whig  party.  Thirty-one  States  voted. 

BUCHANAN"  was  chosen  in  1856  by  one  hundred  and  sev 
enty-four  electoral  votes,  John  C.  Breckenridge  being  his 
associate,  they  receiving  a  popular  vote  of  one  million  eight 
hundred  and  thirty-eight  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine,  John  C.  Fremont  and  Wm.  L.  Dayton,  nominees  of  the 
newly-formed  Republican  party,  receiving  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  electoral  and  one  million  three  hundred  and  forty- 
one  thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty-four  popular  votes, 
while  Millard  Fillmore  and  A.  J.  Donelson,  of  the  American 
party,  had  eight  electoral  and  eight  hundred  and  seventy-four 
thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-four  popular  votes.  This 
was  a  most  bitter  campaign,  saturated  with  all  the  issues  of 
slavery,  disunion,  and  border  ruffianism. 

LINCOLN  was  elected  in  1860  by  a  popular  vote  of  one 
million  eight  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand  three  hundred 
and  fifty-two,  and  an  electoral  vote  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty,  Hannibal  Hamlin  being  his  associate.  This  was  the 
first  victory  for  the  Republicans.  Democrats,  Constitutional 
Unionists,  and  Independent  Democrats  voted  respectively 
for  Breckenridge  and  Lane,  Bell  and  Everett,  and  Douglas 
and  Johnson,  who  received  electoral  votes  as  follows: 
Breckenridge,  seventy-two ;  Bell,  thirty-nine ;  Douglas, 
twelve ;  and  popular  votes :  Breckenridge,  eight  hundred 
and  forty-five  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-three ;  Bell, 
five  hundred  and  eighty-nine  thousand  five  hundred  and 
eighty-one;  and  Douglas,  one  million  three  hundred  and 
seventy-five  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven.  Thirty- 


PRESIDENTIAL  CONTESTS.  541 

three  States  engaged  in  this  contest,  of  which  Lincoln  carried 
seventeen,  Breckenridge  eleven,  Bell  three,  and  Douglas 
two.  Lincoln's  second  election,  Andrew  Johnson  being  his 
associate,  was  by  two  hundred  and  twelve  electoral  and  two 
million  two  hundred  and  sixteen  thousand  andsixty-seven  pop 
ular  votes,  George  B.  McClellan  and  G.  H.  Pendleton  receiv 
ing  twenty-one  electoral  and  one  million  eight  hundred  and 
eight  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  popular  votes. 
Eleven  States  and  eighty-one  electors  were  not  represented 
in  this  election.  Of  twenty-five  voting  States  Lincoln  carried 
all  but  three. 

GRANT  was  chosen  in  1872  over  Horatio  Seymour  by  two 
hundred  and  fourteen  votes  of  the  Electoral  College  to  eighty, 
twenty-three  electors,  three  States,  not  represented.  Schuyler 
Colfax  and  Frank  P.  Blair,  Jr.,  were  the  respective  Vice-Pres 
idential  nominees.  The  popular  vote  was  three  million  fifteen 
thousand  and  seventy-one,  for  Grant,  to  two  million  seven 
hundred  and  nine  thousand  six  hundred  and  thirteen  for  Sey 
mour.  At  the  election  of  1872  Grant  had  a  long  line  of  com 
petitors,  but  he  polled  three  million  five  hundred  and  ninety- 
seven  thousand  and  seventy  popular  votes,  and  two  hundred 
and  eighty-six  electoral  out  of  a  possible  three  hundred  and 
sixty-six.  All  the  States  voted.  His  competitors  on  various 
tickets  were  Horace  Greeley,  Charles  O' Conor,  James  Black, 
Thos.  A.  Hendricks,  Charles  J.  Jenkins,  and  David  Davis. 
Henry  Wilson  was  chosen  Vice-President,  overB.  Gratz  Brown, 
Geo.  W.  Julian,  A.  H.  Colquitt,  John  M.  Palmer,  T.  E.  Bram- 
lette,  W.  S.  Groesbeck,  Willis  B.  Machen,  and  N.  P.  Banks. 

HAYES  was  elected,  with  his  associate,  Wm.  A.  Wheeler,  in 
a  scattering  contest.  His  popular  vote  was  four  million  thirty- 
three  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fifty.  Samuel  J.  Tilden, 
(Democrat)  received  four  million  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
four  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty-five  votes.  Peter 
Cooper,  (Greenback)  eighty-one  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
forty.  Green  Clay  Smith  (Prohibition),  nine  thousand  five 
hundred  and  twenty-two,  and  two  thousand  six  hundred  and 


542 


PRESIDENTIAL  CONTESTS. 


thirty-six  were  scattering.  T.  A.  Hendricks  was  Mr.  Tilden's 
associate.  The  disputed  vote  was  settled  by  an  Electoral  Com 
mission  which  awarded  Hayes  one  hundred  and  eighty-five 
electoral  votes  and  Tilden  one  hundred  and  eighty-four. 

GARFIELD  received,  in  1880,  a  popular  vote  of  four  million 
four  hundred  and  forty-nine  thousand  and  fifty-three,  and  an 
electoral  vote  of  two  hundred  and  fourteen,  together  with 
Chester  A.  Arthur,  his  associate.  Winfield  S.  Hancock  and 
William  H.  English  received  four  million  four  hundred  and 
forty-two  thousand  and  thirty-five  popular,  and  one  hundred 
and  fifty-five  electoral  votes.  The  Greenback  candidates, 
James  B.  Weaver  and  B.  J.  Chambers,  received  three  hundred 
and  seven  thousand  three  hundred 'and  six  votes,  and  twelve 
thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy-six  were  reported  as  scat 
tering.  Thus  the  Republicans  held  the  Presidency  from  Lin 
coln's  election  in  1860. 


PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTIONS. 


543 


TABLES  OF  PBESIDENTIAL  ELECTIONS. 


SUMMARY  OF  POPULAR  AND  ELECTORAL  VOTES  FOR  PRESI 
DENT  AND  VICE-PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  1789- 
1876. 


C 

*M  O 

J 

0 

I 

H 
1 

POLITICAL 
PARTY. 

*  PRESIDENTS. 

*  VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

CANDIDATES. 

VOTE. 

CANDIDATES. 

Elect,  Vote. 

States. 

Popular. 

3 

1789 

1792 
1796 

1800 

tio 

15 
16 

16 

73 

135 

138 

138 

George  Washington 
John  Adams  

69 

34 
9 
6 
6 
4 
3 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
4 

'77 
50 
4 
1 
3 

John  Jay  

R.  H.  Harrison  

John  Rutledge  

John  Hancock 

George  Clinton  
Samuel  Huntingdon 
John  Milton  

* 

James  Armstrong.. 

Benjamin  Lincoln.  . 

Edward  Telfair.  .. 
Vacancies  .  .  . 

Federalist.  . 
Federalist.  . 
Republican 

A 

George  Washington 
John  Adams  

139 

George  Clinton.  .   . 

Thomas  Jeffsrson 

Aaron  Burr  

Federalist.  . 
Republican 
Federalist.. 
Republican 

Vacancies 

0 

John  Adams  . 

71 

Thomas  Jefferson.  . 

68 
5!) 
30 
15 
11 
7 
5 
3 
2 
3 
I 
1 

Thomas  Pinckney.. 
Aaron  Burr 

Samuel  Adams  

Oliver  Ellsworth    . 

George  Clinton 

John  Jay. 

James  Iredell 

George  Washington 
John  Henry.  . 

S  Johnson 

Charles  C.  Pinckney 
Thomas  Jefferson 

Republican 
Republican 
Federalist.. 
Federalist.. 

+73 

*73 

John  Adams 

65 
64 

1 

Charles  C.  Pinckney 
John  Jay 

*  Previous  to  the  election  of  1804  each  elector  voted  for  two  candidates  for  President ;  the 
one  receiving  the  highest  number  of  votes,  If  a  majority,  was  declared  elected  President ; 
and  the  next  highest  Vice-President. 

t  Three  States  out  of  thirteen  did  not  vote,  viz. :  New  York,  which  had  not  passed  an  eiec- 
toral  law  ;  and  North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island,  which  had  not  adopted  the  Constitution. 

t  There  having  been  a  tie  vote,  the  choice  devolved  upon  the  House  of  Representative*. 
A  choice  was  made  ou  th«  3«Jth  ballot,  which  was  <*s  follows  :  Jefferson— (Georgia,  Kentucky. 
Maryland,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  North  Carolina,  Pennsylvania,  Tennessee,  Vermont,  and 
Virginia— 10  States;  Burr— Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  New  BatupeWre,  and.  R.hgd.«  iaUflJ 
—4  Stotes ;  Httk-DtlawWf  aad  South  Owolin»-2  States. 


544 


POPULAR  AND  ELECTORAL    VOTES, 


i 

* 

I 

cc 

"s 

0 

% 

^ 

H 

1 

POLITICAL 
PABTY. 

PRESIDENTS. 

VlCE-PBESIDENrS  . 

CANDIDATES. 

VOTE. 

CANDIDATES. 

Elect.  Vote. 

• 

1 

Popular. 

i 
s 

1804 
1808 

1812 
1816 

1820 
1824 

1828 
1832 

1836 

17 

IT 

18 
lit 

2! 

24 

24 
21 

96 

17G 
170 

218 
221 

235 
8f,l 

2fil 

288 

291 

Republican 
Federalist.. 

Republican 
Federalist.  . 

Thomas  Jefferson.  . 
Charles  C.  Pinckney 

James  Madison  .   .  . 
Charles  C.  Pinckney 
George  Clinton 

15 

2 

IS 

6 

if>2 
14 

122 
47 
8 

George  Clinton.  . 
Rufus  King  

George  Clinton.  . 
Rufus  King  
John  Langdon.. 
James  Madison. 
James  Monroe.. 

1f.8 
14 

113 
47 
9 
3 
I 
1 

131 
86 
1 

183 
23 
5 
4 
3 
4 

218 
8 
4 
I 
1 
1 

1S2 
30 
24 
13 
I 
2 
1 

171 

83 
7 

189 
49 
11 
7 
.30 
2 

147 
77 
47 
23 



Republican. 
Federalist.  . 

Vacancy  

1 

James  Madison  
De  Witt  Clinton.... 
Vacancy  

11 
7 

128 
89 
1 

Elbridge  Gerry.  . 
Jared  Ingersoll.  . 

Republican. 
Federalist.  . 

James  Monroe  

Ifl 

183 
34 

D.  D.  Tompkinp. 
John  E.  Howard 
James  Ross  
John  Marshall.. 
Robt.  G.  Harper. 

Rufus  King 

B 

•1 

Republican. 
Opposition. 

Vacancies  

James  Monroe  
John  Q.  Adams.  .  .  . 

24 



881 
1 

D.  D.  Tompkins. 
Rich.  Stockton.. 
Daniel  Rodney.. 
Robt.  G.  Harper 
Richard  Rush... 

'  '  ? 

Republican. 
Coalition... 
Republican. 
Republican. 

Vacancies 

Andrew  Jackson  .  .  . 
John  Q.  Adams  
Wm.  H.  Crawford.  . 
Henry  Clay  .  . 

cocoooo 

155,872 
105,321 
44,282 
46,587 

*W 

81 
41 

37 

John  C.  Calhoun 
Nathan  Sanford. 
Nathaniel  Macon 
Andrew  Jackson 
M.  Van  Buren... 
Henry  Clay  

Democratic 
Nat.  Repub. 

Vacancy  

Andrew  Jackson.  .  . 
John  Q.  Adams  

15 
B 

647,231 
509,097 

178 
83 

John  C.  Calhoun 
Richard  Rush... 
William  Smith.. 

M.  Van  Buren... 
John  Sergeant.  .  . 
Henry  Lee 

Democratic 
Nat.  Repub. 

Andrew  Jackson... 
Henry  Clay.   . 

If, 
i 
1 
1 

687,502 
530,189 

33,108 

219 
49 

11 
T 

John  Floyd 

Anti-Mason 

William  Wirt.... 

Amos  Ellmaker. 
William  Wilkins 

Democratic. 
Whig  
Whig 

Vacancies 

•> 

Martin  Van  Buren  . 
Wm.  H.  Harrison"! 
Hugh  L.  White..  1 
Daniel  Webster..  [ 
W.  P.  Mangum...J 

j_~ 

1 
1 

761,549 
736,656 

17( 
78 
2f 
14 
11 

R.  M.  Johnsont. 
Francis  Granger. 
John  Tyler  
William  Smith.. 

SBf"-.:::: 

*  No  choice  having  been  made  by  the  Electoral  College,  the  choice  devolved  upon  tha 
House  of  Representatives.  A  choice  was  made  on  the  first  ballot,  which  wns  as  follows : 
Adams— Connecticut,  Illinois,  Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Maine,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  Mis 
souri,  New  Hampshire,  New  York,  Ohio,  Rhode  Island,  and  Vermont— 13  States ;  Jackson- 
Alabama,  Indiana,  Mississippi,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  South  Carolina,  and  Tennessee— 
7  States  ;  Crawford— Delaware,  Georgia,  North  Carolina,  and  Virginia--*  States. 

t  No  candidate  having  received  a  majority  of  the  voUs  of  the  Electeral  College,  the  s>en- 

«« «leote4  R,  Mr  Jobftflw*  Viee-Presiawii,  wbg  receiv«<mYwta  i  Fraacis  Granger  receiyed  M, 


POPULAR  AND  ELECTORAL    VOTES. 


545 


!l 
1 

1 

fi 
"o 

0 

fc 

> 

i 

H 

1 

POLITICAL 
PARTY. 

PRESIDENTS. 

VIOE-PRESIDBNTS. 

CANDIDATES. 

VOTE. 

CANDIDATES. 

1 

234 

43 

States. 

Popular. 

1 

3 

234 
00 

1840 

1844 
1848 
1852 
1856 
1860 

1864 
1868 
1872 

1876 
188 

26 

26 
30 
31 
81 
33 

*3G 

t37 

37 

86 

[ 

294 

275 

290 

296 
290 
303 

314 
317 
,'366 

369 
30'. 

Whig  

Wm.  H.  Harrison  .  . 
Martin  Van  Buren. 
James  G.  Birney... 

19 

7 

1,275,017 
1,128,702 
7,059 

John  Tyler  
R.  M.  Johnson  .  . 

Democratic 
Liberty  .... 

L.  W.  Tazewell. 
James  K.  Polk.. 

Geo.  M.  Dallas.. 
T.  Frelinghuysen 

11 

1 

170 

105 

Democratic 
Whig  
Liberty.... 

Whig  
Democratic 
Free  Soil... 

Democratic 
Whig  
Free  Dem.. 

Democratic 
Republican. 
American  .  . 

Republican. 
Democratic. 
Cons.  Union 
Ind.  Dem.  .  . 

Republican. 
Democratic 

Republican. 
Democratic. 

Republican. 
Dem.  &  Lib. 
Democratic. 
Temp'rance 

James  K.  Polk  
Henry  Clay. 

15 
11 

15 
15 

27 
4 

19 
11 
1 

17 
11 
8 

2 

22 
8 

11 

21; 

8 
jj 

1,337,243 
1,299,068 
62,300 

1,360,101 
1,220,544 
291,263 

1,691,474 
1,386,578 
156,149 

1.838.169 
1,341,264 
874,534 

1,866,352 
845.763 
589,581 
1,375,157 

2,216,067 
1,808,725 

3,015,071 
2,709,613 

170 
105 

1C3 
127 

25  1 
42 

174 
114 
8 

ISO 
72 
86 

12 

212 

21 
SI 

214 
80 
BJj 

James  G.  Birney... 

Zachary  Taylor  
Lewis  Cass  

Millard  Fillmore 
Wm.  O.  Butler.. 
Chas.  F.  Adams. 

Wm.  R.  King... 
Wm.  A.  Graham 
Geo.  W.Julian.. 

J.  C.  Breckinr'ge 
Wm.  L.  Dayton. 
A.  J.  Donelson.. 

Hannibal  Hamlin 
Joseph  Lane  
Edward  Everett. 
H.  V.  Johnson.. 

Andrew  Johnson 
G.  H.  Pendleton. 

'schuyler  Coif  ax. 
F.P.Blair,  Jr... 

16li 
12T 

254 
42 

174 
114 
8 

180 
72 
39 

19 

21* 
21 

61 

214 
80 
23 

28« 
4T 
5 
5 
3 
3 
1 
1 
1 
14 

186 
184 

Martin  Van  Buren.  . 

Franklin  Pierce... 
Winfield  Scott  
John  P.  Hale  

James  Buchanan.  .  . 
John  C.  Fremont.  . 
MillardFillmore... 

Abraham  Lincoln.. 
J.  C.  Breckinridge.  . 
John  Bell 

S.  A.  Douglas  

Abraham  Lincoln.. 
Geo.  B.  McClellan.  . 
Vacancies  

Ulysses  S.  Grant... 
Horatio  Seymour  .  . 
Vacancies  

Ulysses  S.  Grant... 
Horace  Greeley  
Charles  O'Conor... 
James  Black  

3>1 
0 

3,597,070 
2,834,079 
29,408 
5,608 

28t; 
"42 

18 

g 

1 

Henry  Wilson.  .  . 
B.  Gratz  Brown. 
Geo.  W.  Julian.  . 
A.  H.  Colquitt... 
John  M.  Palmer. 
T.  E.  Bramlette. 
W.  S.  Groesbeek 
Willis  B.Machen 
N.  P.  Banks  

Thos.  A.  Hendricks 
B.  Grata  Brown  

Charles  J.  Jenkins. 
David  Davis  

Republican. 
Democratic. 
Greenback.. 
Prohibition 

$  Not  Counted 

17 

Rutherford  B.Hayes 
Samuel  J.  Tilden... 
Peter  Cooper  

21 
17 

4,083,950 
4,284,885 
81,740 
9,522 
2,636 

4,449.053 
4,442,035 
307.306 
12,576 

18." 
1S4 

Wm.  A.  Wheeler 
T.  A.  Hendricks 

Green  Clay  Smith.. 
Scattering  



... 

Kepuoflcan. 
Democratic 
Greenback. 

.James  A.  Garfleld.. 
IWinneld  S.Hancock 
James  B.  Weaver... 
.(Scattering  „.. 

19 
19 

214 

155 

Chester  A.  Arthur 
Wm.  H.  English- 
is.  J.  Chambers.. 

214 

155 

*  Eleven  States  did  not  vote  viz.:  Alabama,  Arkansa3,  Florida.  Georgia,  Louisiana  Mis 
•issippi.  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Texas,  and  Virginia. 

t  Three  States  did  not  vote,  viz.:  Mississippi.  Texas,  and  Virginia. 

t  Three  electoral  votes  of  Georgia  cast  for  Horace  Greeley.  and  the  votes  ef  Arkansas.  0 
and  Louisiana,  8.  cast  for  U.  S.  Grant,  were  rejected.  If  all  had  been  included  in  thTt-nfmt 
fee  elect**!  rote  would  have  tow  300  for  U.  S,  Oraat,  au4  W  for  oppw  og  * 


NATIONAL  ELECTIONS. 
THE  PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTION. 

The  Presidential  election  will  take  place  on  Tuesday, 
November  4th,  1884.  The  Constitution  prescribes  that  each 
State  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature  thereof 
may  direct,  a  number  of  electors  equal  to  the  whole  number 
of  Senators  and  Representatives  to  which  the  State  may  be 
entitled  in  Congress.  For  the  election  this  year  the  electors 
by  States  will  be  as  follows : 

States  Electoral         States.  Electoral 

Vote.  Vote. 

Alabama 10  Missouri 16 

Arkansas 7  Nebraska 5 

California SjNevada ...     3 

Colorado 3  New  Hampshire 4 

Connecticut 6iNew  Jersey 9 

Delaware 3 'New  York 36 

Florida 4lNorth  Carolina n 

Georgia i2(Ohio 23 

Illinois 22  Oregon  3 

Indiana 15 'Pennsylvania 30 

Iowa  13  Rhode  Island 4 

Kansas 9  South  Carolina 9 

Kentucky 13  Tennessee 12 

Louisiana 8;Texas 13 

Maine  6  Vermont 4 

Maryland 8  Virginia 12 

Massachusetts 14  West  Virginia 6 

Michigan 13  Wisconsin n 

Minnesota 7 

Mississippi 91        Total 401 

Necessary  to  a  choice,  201. 

No  Senator  or  Representative,  or  person  holding  an  office  of 
profit  or  trust  under  the  United  States,  shall  be  an  elector. 
In  all  the  States,  the  laws  thereof  direct  that  the  people  shall 
choose  the  electors.  The  Constitution  declares  that  the  day 
when  electors  are  chosen  shall  be  the  same  throughout  the 
United  States.  The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective 
States  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  December,  and  vote  by  ballot 
for  President  and  Vice-President,  one  of  whom  at  least  shall 
not  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  same  State  as  themselves. 


'  Q  UA  L I  PICA  TIONS  FOR   VO  TERS. 
QUALIFICATIONS  FOR  VOTERS. 


547 


STATES. 

£ 

Requirement 
as  to 
Citizenship. 

Residence 
in 

-\ 

Registration. 

4> 

B 

(W 

>» 

p 

Alabama,  ...... 

21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 

21 

21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 
21 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens  

yr. 
yr. 
yr. 
6mo 
yr. 
yr. 

lyr. 
I  yr. 

6  mo 
6  mo 
6  mo 
2  yrs 
lyr. 

3  mo 
i  yr. 
I  yr. 

3  mo 
6  mo 
gods 

6  mo 
I  mo 

6  mo 

6  mo 
gods 
6ods 
6ods 

r  yr. 

61110 

6  mo 

No  law. 
Prohibited. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Not  required. 

Required. 

No  law. 
Required. 
No  law. 
Required. 
Req'd  in  cities 
Not  required. 
No  law. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Req'd  in  cities 
Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Req'd  in  cities 
Req'd  in  cities 
Required. 
Not  required. 

Required. 
Required. 
Required. 
Not  required. 
Prohibited. 
Required. 
Required. 
Prohibited. 
Required. 

Arkansas 

California  .... 
Colorado  
Connecticut... 
Delaware  

Florida  
Oeorgia 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens 

Actual  County  taxpayers  

f  United  States   citizens  or  ") 
\      declared  intention  ,  j 

Actual  citizens. 

Illinois 

Actual  citizens.. 

Indiana.. 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens.. 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Free  white  male  citizens  
Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens  
Actual  citizens  ... 

Kentucky 

Louisiana  
Maine  

Maryland  
Massachusetts. 
Michigan  
Minnesota  
Mississippi.  ... 
Missouri. 

Citizens                 .     .    . 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens. 

3  mo 
4mo 
6  mo 
ryr. 

6  mo 
6  mo 



I  mo 

6ods 

3ods 
5  mo 
4mo 
gods 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens  

Nebraska  

Nevada  
N.  Hampshire 
New  Jersey... 
New  York.... 
N.  Carolina... 
Ohio  

Actual  citizens 

yr. 
yr. 
vr 

Actual  citizens. 

Actual  citizens  

Actual  citizens 

yr 

Oregon  
Pennsylvania. 
Rhode  Island 
S.  Carolina  
Tennessee  
Texas.  . 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens 

6  mo 
yr. 

Actual  tax-paying  citizens  
Actual  citizens  

yr- 

yr. 

yr- 
yr- 

yr. 
yr. 

6ods 
6  mo 
6  mo 

Actual  citizens  

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 
Actual  citizens  
Actual  citizens  .              

Vermont  
Virginia..  
W.  Virginia... 
Wisconsin  

Actual  citizens                      

yr. 

yr. 

6ods 

Citizens  or  declared  intention. 

NOTE. — In  several  States  women  are  permitted  to  vote  on  the  school  questions,  sele»« 
lion  of  directors,  etc. 


548 


HOMES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Presi 
dential 
Term. 

I 

2 

3 

4 

6 

8 
9 

10 

ii 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

I? 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 
24 

Name. 

Qualified. 

Born. 

Died. 

George  Washington. 
George  Washington.. 
John  Adams   

April  30,  1789 
March  4,  1793 
March  4,   1797 

Feb.  22,  1732 
Oct.  19  1735, 
April  2,  1743 

March  5,  1751 

April  28,  1758 
July    11/1767 
Mar.  15,  1767 

Dec.     5,  1782 
Feb.     9,  1773 
Mar.  29,  1790 
Nov.    2,  1795 
Nov.  24,  1784 
Jan.      7,  1800 
Nov.  23,  1804 
April22,  1791 

Feb.  12,  1809 
Dec.  29,  1808 
April  27,  1822 

Oct.     4,  1822 
Nov.  19,  1831 
Oct.     5,  1830 

Dec.  14,  1799 
July  4,  1826 
July  4,  1826 

fune  28,  1836 

July  4,  1831 
Feb.  23,  1848 
June  8,  I  45 

July  24,  1862 
April  4,  1841 
Jan.  17,  1862 
June  15,  1849 
July  9,  1850 

Oct.  8  1869 
June  i,  1868 

April  15,  1865 
July  30,1875 

Sept.  19,  1  88  1 

Thomas  Jefferson.... 
Thomas  Jefferson  
fames  Madison. 

March  4,    1801 
March  4,   1805 
March  4,   1809 
March  4,    1813 
March  4,   1817 
March   5,  1821 
March  4,  1825 
March  4,    1829 
March  4,    1833 
March  4,    1837 
March  4,   1841 
April      6,  1841 
March    4,  1845 
March    5,  1849 
July       9,  1850 
March   4,  1853 
March  4,    1857 
March  4,    1861 
March  4,    1865 
April    15,  1865 
March  4,    1869 
March  4,    1873 
March    5,  1877 
March    4,  1881 
Sept'r  20,  1  88  1 

James  Madison.  .  . 

fames  Monroe  
fames  Monroe  
fohn  Quincy  Adams. 
\.ndre\v  Jackson  . 

Vndrevv  Jackson  
Martin  Van  Bur  en... 
Wm.  H.  Harrison.* 
fohn  Tyler 

fames  K.  Polk.. 

Zxchary  Taylor*  
Millard  Fillmore  
Franklin  Pierce  
James  Buchanan  
Abraham  1  .incoln  
Abraham  Lincoln  *.. 
Andrew  Johnson  
Ulysses  S.  Grant..  ... 
Ulysses  S.  Grant  
Rutherford  B.  Hayes 
James  A.  Garfield*  .  .  . 
Chester  A.  Arthur.  ... 

Total  number  of  incumbents,  21. 


*  Died  in  office. 


HOMES  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


Native  State. 

Whence  Elected. 

Washington  

Virginia  

Virginia. 

Adams 

Jefferson 

Madison 

Monroe  

Adams,  J.  Quincy  ., 

Jackson 

Van  Buren 

Harrison 

Tyler .' 

Polk 

Taylor 

Fillmore , 

Pierce 

Buchanan 

Lincoln 

Johnson 

Grant , 

Hayes.    . 

Garfield \ 

Arthur 


'Massachusetts ;  Massachusetts. 

(Virginia Virginia. 


Massachusetts Massachusetts. 

North  Carolina |Tenn*>s-ee! 

iNew  York 'New  York. 

.Virginia ,Ohio. 

•'       -Virginia. 

North  Carolina .Tennessee. 


.  I  Virgin!  i Louisiana. 

.iNew  York 'New  York. 


'New  Hampshire...  New  Hampshire. 

Pennsylvania !  Pennsylvania. 

Kentucky Illinois. 

North  Carolina .Tennessee. 

Ohio                            Illlinois. 
"     ..  Ohio. 


New  York !New  York. 


VICE  PRESIDENTS.  549 

VICE-PRESIDENTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Vice- 

Fres. 
Term. 

Name. 

Qualified. 

Born. 

Died. 

I 

John  Adams.            . 

Tune     3.  1780  ) 

2 

John  Adams.         

Dec.       2,  I7Q3   I 

1735 

1826 

7 

Thomas  Jefferson.     .    . 

March  4,  1707 

1743 

1826 

March  4,  1801 

17^6 

1836 

r 

George  Clinton             

March  4,  1805  'l 

6 

George  Clinton* 

March  4,  1  809  / 

1739 

1812 

William  H.  Crawfordf  

April  10,  1812 

1772 

l8?4 

7 

Elbridge  Gerry* 

March  4,  1813 

1744 

1814 

John   Gaillard* 

Nov.  25,  1814 

•tQsif. 

8 

Daniel  D.  Tompkins... 

March  4,  1817  "1 

q 

Daniel   D.  Tompkins.. 

March  5,  1821  / 

1744 

1825 

lo 

John  C.  Calhoun  

March  4,  1825  ~l 

11 

John  C  CalhounJ 

March  4,  1829  / 

1782 

1850 

Hugh  L.  Whitef  

Dec.  28,  1832 

177-7 

1840 

12 

Martin  Van  Buren 

March  4,  1833 

*/  /  J 

1782 

1862 

17 

Richard  M.  Johnson 

March  4,  1837 

I78o 

1850 

14 

John  Tyler$ 

March  4,  1841 

I7QO 

1862 

Samuel  L.  Southard^  . 

April    6,  1841 

1787 

184-' 

Willie  P.  Mangumf 

May    31,  1842 

I7Q2 

1861 

15 

George  M.  Dallas.       .    . 

March  4,  1845 

I7Q2 

1864 

16 

Millard  Fillmore^.. 

March  5    1849 

1800 

1860 

William  R.  King-j-  

July    ii,  i8<;o  ") 

17 

William  R.  King*  

March  4,  1853  / 

1786 

1853 

David  R.  Atchisonf  

April  18,  1853 

1807 

Tesse  D.  Bright  f  

Dec.      5,  1854 

1812 

18 

ohn  C.  Breckenridge  

March  4,  1857 

1821 

1871? 

19 

iannibal  Hamlin  

March  4   1861 

l8oq 

20 

Andrew  Johnson^      

March  4,  1865 

1808 

1871; 

Lafayette  S.  Fosterf  

April  15,  1865 

1806 

Benjamin  F.  Wadej- 

March  2    1867 

1800 

21 

Schuyler  Colfax  

March  4    1869 

1823 

22 

lenry  Wilson*  

March  4,  1873 

1812 

187? 

Thomas  W.  Ferryf  

NOV.    22,  1875 

1827 

23 
24 

William  A.  Wheeler  
Chester  A.  Arthur  $. 

March  5,  1877 
March  4,  1  88  1 

1819 
1870 

David  Davis  f. 

Oct.    13,  1881 

i8iq 

>eorge  F.  Edmundsf  

March  3,  1883 

1828 

*  Died  in  office,     f  Acting  Vice-President   and   President  pro  tern,  of  the  Senate* 
Resigned  the  Vice-Presidency,     g  Became  President. 


CABINETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON:     April  30,  1789 — March  4,  1797  (two  terms). 

Secretary  of  State;  Thomas  Jefferson,  appointed  Sept.  26,  1789 

'*  "  Edmund  Randolph,  "  Jan.  2,  179.1 

"  "  Timothy  Pickering,  "  Dec.  10,  1795 


550 


CABINETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


Secretary  of  Treasury 

.•  Alexander  Hamilton,      appointed  Sept.  n,  1789 

«                       « 

Oliver  Wolcott,                       "             Feb.  2,  1795 

"              War: 

Henry  Knox,                                        Sept.  12,  1789 

«                  c 

Timothy  Pickering,                  "              Jan.  2,  1795 

d                  (i 

James  Mclienry,                     "            Jan.  27,  1796 

Postmaster  General: 

Samuel  Osgood,                                  Sept.  26,  1759 

«                  « 

Timothy  Pickering,                 "          Aug.  12,  17^1 

«                                   « 

Joseph  Habersham,                "           Feb.  25,  1795 

Attorney-  General: 

Edmund  Randolph,                 "          Sept.  26,  1789 

K                                     <l 

William  Bradford,                  "            Jan.  27,  1794 

«                  « 

Charles  Lee,                            "          Dec.  10,  1795 

JOHN  ADAMS  :  March 

4,  1797  —  March  4,  1801  (one  term). 

Secretary  of  State  : 

Timothy  Pickering,       appointed    March  4,  1797 

«                  « 

John  Marshall,                                       May  13,  1800 

"               Treasury 

•  Oliver  Wolcott,                        "           March  4,  1797 

<c                               « 

Samuel  Dexter,                        "              Jan.  I,  1801 

W^r.- 

James  Me  Henry,                     "          March  4,  1797 

<•                  « 

Samuel  Dexter,                       "           May  13,  1800 

«                  « 

Rodger  Griswold,                   "              Feb.  3,1801 

"             Navy: 

Benjamin  Stoddart,                 "            May  21,  1798 

Postmaster-  General: 

Joseph  Habersham,                 "          March  4,  1797 

Attorney-  General: 

Charles  Lee,                            "          March  4,  1797 

K                          (I 

Theophilus  Parsons,               "           Feb.  20,  I  Sol 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON: 

March  4,  1801  —  March  4,  1809  (two  terms). 

Secretary  of  State  : 

James  Madison,                appointed  March  5,  1801 

"               Treasury 

•  Albert  Gallatin, 

May  14,  I  So  I 

War: 

Henry  Dearborn, 

March  5,  1801 

Navy: 

Benjamin  Stoddert, 

March  4,  1  80  1 

f                 n 

Robert  Smith, 

July  15,  iSoi 

((                 « 

J.  Crowninshield, 

March  3,  1805 

Postmaster-  General  : 

Joseph  Habersham, 

March  4,  iSoi 

«                  « 

Gideon  Granger, 

Nov.  28,  1801 

Attorney-  General: 

Levi  Lincoln, 

March  5,  iSoi 

><                « 

Robert  Smith, 

March  3,  1805 

"                " 

John  Breckinridge, 

Aug.  7,  1805 

«                <( 

Csesar  A.  Rodney, 

Jan.  28,  1807 

JAMES  MADISON:  March  4,  1809  —  March  4,  1817  (t 

o  terms). 

Secretary  of  State  : 

Robert  Smith,                  appo 

nted  March  6,  1809 

"                  " 

James  Monroe, 

April  2,  iSil 

"               Treastiry 

.•  Albert  Gallatin, 

March  4,  1809 

«                      « 

George  W.  Campbell, 

Feb.  9,  1814 

<«                      « 

Alexander  J.  Dallas, 

Oct.  6,  1814 

«                      « 

William  H.  Crawford, 

Oct.  22,  1816 

'               War: 

William  F.ustis, 

March  7,  1809 

' 

John  Armstrong, 

Jan.  13,  1813 

<                  « 

James  Monroe, 

Sept.  27,  1814 

«                   <« 

William  H.  Crawford, 

Aug.  i,  1815 

'              Navy: 

Paul  Hamilton, 

March  7,  1809 

<                 « 

William   Jones, 

Jan.  12,  1813 

««                  « 

B.  W.  Crowninshield,                          Dec.  19,  1814 

CABINETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


55* 


Postmaster-  General: 

a  a 

Attorney-  General: 


Gideon  Grander, 
Return  J.  Meigs,  Jr., 
Cresnr  A,  Rodney, 
William  Pinkney, 
Richard  Rush, 


appointed 


March  4, 

March  17,  1814 

March  4,  1809 

Dec.  II,  181 1 

\  eb.  10,  1814 


JAMES  MONROE:  March  4,  1817— March  4,  1825  (two terms). 

appointed  March  5,  1817 
"  March  5,  1817 
*'  ad  interim. 

Oct.  8,  1817 
<<  March  4,  1817 
"  Nov.  9,  1818 

Sept.  16,  1823 
March  4,  1817 
'*  June  26,  1823 

March  4,  1817 
"         Nov.  13,  1817 


Secretary  of  Slate: 

"  Treasury 

War: 

ts  « 

"  Navy: 


Postmaster-  General : 
Attorney-  General : 


John  Quincy  Adams, 
William  H.  Crawford, 
George  Graham, 
John  C.  Calhoun, 
B.  W.  Crowninshield, 
Smith  Thompson, 
Samuel  L.  Southard, 
Return  J.  Meigs,  Jr., 
John  McLean, 
Richard  Rush, 
William  Wirt, 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS:  March  4,  1825 — March  4,  1829  (one  term). 
Secretary  of  State :          Henry  Clay,  appointed  March  7,  1825 


War: 

"  Navy: 

Postmaster-  General : 
Attorney-  General : 


Treasury  :  Richard  Rush, 


James  Barbour, 
Peter  B.  Porter, 
Samuel  L.  Southard, 
John  McLean, 
William  Wirt, 


ANDREW  JACKSON: 

Secretary  of  State  : 


Postmaster-  General ': 
Attorney-  General : 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN 
Secretary  of  State  : 

"  Treasury 

War: 


March  4,  1829 — March  4, 

Martin  Van  Buren, 
"  Edward  Livingston, 

"  Louis  Me  Lane, 

"  John  Forsyth, 

Treasury :  Samuel  D.  Ingham, 
"  Louis  McLane, 

"  William  J.  Duane, 

"  Roger  B.  Taney, 

"  Levi  Woodbury, 

War:          John  II.  Eaton, 
"  Lewis  Cass, 

John  Branch, 
Levi  Woodbury, 
Mahlon  Dickerson, 
William  T.  Barry, 
Amos  Kendall, 
John  M.  Berrien, 
Roger  B.  Taney, 
Benjamin  F.  Butler, 

March  4,  1837 — March 
John  Forsyth, 
Levi  Woodbury, 
Joel  R.  Poinsett, 


March  7,  1825 
"  March  7,  1825 
May  26,  1828 
"  March  4,  1825 
"  March  4,  1825 
"  March  4,  1825 

1837  (two  terms), 
appointed  March  6,  1829 
"  May  24,  1831 

"  May  29,  1833 

June  27,  1834 
"  March  6,  1829 
"  Aug.  2,  1831 

May  29,  1833 
Sept.  23,  1833 
June  27,  1834 
"  March  9,  1829 

Aug.  I,  1831 
March  9,  1829 
May  23,  1831 
June  30,  1834 
March  9,  1829 
May  I,  1835 
March  9,  1829 
July  20,  1831 
Nov.  15,  1833 

4,  1841  (one  term), 
appointed  March  4,  1837 
"  March  4,  1837 

N  "          March  7,  1837 


552 


CABINETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 


Secretary  of  Navy  : 
«  << 

Postmaster-  General: 
Attorney-  General : 


Mahlon  Dickerson, 
James  K.  Paulding, 
Amos  Kendal, 
John  M.  Niles, 
Benjamin  F.  Butler, 
Felix  Grundy, 
Henry  D.  Gilpin, 


appointed  March  4,  1837 

"  June  25,  1838 

"  March  4,  1837 

"  May  25,  1840 

"  March  4,  1837 
July  5,  1838 

"  Jan.  II,  1840 


WILLIAM  H.  HARRISON:  March  4,  1841 — April  6,  1841  (partial  term). 


Secretary  of  State  :          Daniel  Webster, 
"  Treasury  :  Ihomas  Ewing, 

"  War:          John  Bell, 

"  Navy :        George  E.  Badger, 

Postmaster-  General :       Francis  Granger, 
Attorney- General:  John  J.  Crittenden, 


appointed  March  5,  1841 
"  March  5,  1841 

"          March  5,  1841 
"  March  5,  1841 

"          March  6,  1841 
"  March  5,  1841 


JOHN  TYLER:  April  6,  1841 — March  4,  1845  (partial  term). 


Secretary  of  State:          Daniel  Webster, 
"  "  Hugh  S.  Legare, 

"  "  Abel  P.  Upshur, 

«  "  John  C.  Calhoun, 

"  Treasury  :  Thomas  Ewing, 

"  "  Walter  Forward, 

"  "  John  C.  Spencer, 

"  "  George  M.  Bibb, 

War:         John  Bell, 
"  4<  John  C.  Spencer, 

"  "  James  M.  Porter, 

"  "  William  Wilkins, 

Navy  :         George  E.  Badger, 
"  "  Abel  P.  Upshur, 

"  "  David  Henshaw, 

Thomas  W.  Gilmer, 
"  "  John  Y.  Mason, 

Postmaster- General:       Francis  Granger, 

Charles  A.  Wickliffe, 
Attorney-  General:  John  J.  Crittenden, 

Hugh  S.  Legare, 
"  "  John  Nelson, 


appointed   April  6,  1841 
"  May  9,  1843 

July  24,  1843 
"  March  6,  1844 
"  April  6,  1841 

"  Sept.  13,  1841 
"  March  3,  1843 
June  15,  1844 
April  6,  1841 
Oct.  12,  1841 
March  8,  1843 
June  15,  1844 
April  6,  1841 
Sept.  13,  1841 
July  24,  1843 
Feb.  15,  1844 
March  14,  1844 
April  6,  1841 
Sept.  13,  1841 
April  6,  1841 
Sept.  13,  1841 
July  I,  1843 


JAMES  K.  POLK:  March4,  1845 — March  5,  1849  (one  term). 


Secretary  of  State  :          James  Buchanan, 
Treasury  :  Robert  J.  Walker, 


War: 
Navy  : 
««  « 

Postmaster-  General : 
Attorney-  General : 


William    L.  Marcy, 
George  Bancrolt, 
John  Y.  Mason, 
Cave  Johnson, 
John  Y.   Mason, 
Nathan  Clifford, 
Isaac  Toucey, 


appointed  March  6,  1845 

"          March  6,  1845 

«         March  6,  1845 

"      March   10,  1845 

Sept.  9,  1846 

«        March  6.    1845 

"         March  6,  1845 

Oct.   17,  1846 

"          June  21,  1848 


CABINETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 
ZACHARY  TAYLOR  :  March  5,  1849— July  9,  1850  (partial  term). 


553 


Secretary  of  State  :          John  M.  Clayton, 
"              Treasury:  William  M.  Meredith, 

appointed  March  7,  1849 
March  8,  1849 

"              War:          George  \V.  Crawford, 

"         March  8,  1849 

"             Navy  :         William  B.  Preston, 

"         March  8,  1849 

"              Interior  :     Thomas  Ewing, 

March  8,  1849 

Postmaster-General:       Jacob  Collamer, 

"         March  8,  1849 

Attorney-  General  :           Reverdy  Johnson, 

"         March  8,  1849 

MILLARD  FILLMORE:  July  9,  1850—  March  4, 

1853  (partial  term). 

Secretary  of  State  :         Daniel  Webster, 

rppointed  July  22,   1850 

"                 "               Edward  Everett, 

«            Nov.  6,  1852 

"              Treasury  :  Thomas  Corwin, 

"           July  23,  1850 

"              War  :          Char.es  M.   Conrad, 

"         Aug.   15,  1850 

"             Navy  :         William  A.  Graham, 

"         July  22,    1850 

"                  "               John  P.  Kennedy, 

"           July  22,  1852 

"             Interior  :     Alex.  H.  H.  Stuart, 

"         Sept.  12,  1850 

Postmaster-  General  :       Nathan  K.  Hall, 

"           July  23,  1850 

"                 "               Samuel  D.    Hubbard, 

"         Aug.  31,  1852 

Attorney-  General:          John  J.  Crittenden, 

"           July  22,  1850 

FRANKLIN  PIERCE:  March  4,  1853  —  March  4, 

18/7   (one  term). 

Secretary  of  State  :         William  L.  Marcy, 
"              7^reasury  :  James  Guthrie, 

appointed  March  7,  1853 
"         March  7,  1853 

"              War  :          Jefferson  Davis, 

"         March  5,  1853 

"             Navy:          James  C.  Dobbin, 

"         March  7,  1853 

"             Interior:     Robert  McClelland, 

"         March  7,  1853 

Postmaster-General:        James  Campbell, 
Attorney-  General:           Caleb  Gushing, 

"         March  5,  1853 
"         March  7,  1853 

JAMES  BUCHANAN:  March  4,  1857  —  March  4, 

1861    (one  term). 

Secretary  of  State:           Lewis  Cass, 
"                 "               Jeremiah  S.  Black, 

appointed  March  6,  1857 
"           Dec.  17,  1860 

"              Treasury:   Howell  Cobb, 

"         March  6,  1857 

"                     "    '      Philip  F.  Thomas, 

"          Dec.   12,  1860 

"                     "           John  A.  Dix, 

•'           Jan.  11,  1861 

"              War:           John  B.  Floyd, 

"         March  6,  1857 

"                  "                Joseph  Holt, 

"            Jan.  18,  1861 

"             Navy:          Isaac  Toucey, 

"         March  6,  1857 

"              Interior:     Jacob  Thompson, 

"         March  .6,  1857 

Postmaster-  General:        Aaron  V.  Brown, 

«         March  6,  1857 

"                  "                Joseph  Holt, 
"                  "                Horatio  King, 

"       March  14,  1859 
Feb.  12,  1861 

Attorney-  General:            Jeremiah  S.  Black, 

"         March  6,  1857 

"             "                   Edwin  M.  Stanton, 

"           Dec.  20,  1860 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN:  March  4,  1861— April  15,  1865  (one  term  and  a 

part). 
Secretary  of  State  :          William  H.  Seward,        appointed  March  5,  1861 

"    '        'treasury:    Salmon  P.  Chase,  "          March  7,  1861 


554               CABINETS  OF  THE  PRESIDENTS. 

Secretary  of  Treasury  : 

William  P.  Fessenden,      app 
Hugh  McCulloch, 

ointed     July  I,  1864 
March  7,  1865 

War: 

Simon  Cameron, 

March  5,  1861 

n                  n 

Edwin  M.  Stanton, 

Jan.  15,  1862 

"             Navy  : 

Gideon  Welles, 

March  5,  1861 

"             Interior: 

Caleb  B.  Smith, 

March  5,  1861 

a                 « 

John  P.  Usher, 

Jan.  8,  1863 

Postmaster-  General  : 

Montgomery  Blair, 

March  5,  1861 

«                                      C< 

William  Dennison, 

Sept.  24,  1864 

Attorney-  General  : 

Edward  Bates, 

March  5,  1861 

n                « 

Titian  J.  Coffey,  ad  int., 

June  22,  1863 

t<                « 

James  Speer) 

Dec.  2,  1864 

ANDREW  JOHNSON:  April  15,  1865  —  March  4,  1869 

partial  term). 

Secretary  of  State  : 

William  H.  Seward,        appo 

nted  April  15,  1865 

«                                          4< 

Elihu  B.  Washburne, 

March  5,  1869 

«             Treasury  : 

Hugh  McCulloch, 

April  15,  1865 

«             War  : 

Edwin  M.  Stanton, 

April  15,  1865 

(i                 « 

Ulysses  S.  Grant,  ad  int., 

Aug.  12,  1868 

«                  « 

Lorenzo  Thomas, 

Feb.  21,  1868 

«                  « 

John  M.  Schofield, 

May  28,  1868 

"            .Mzz/j'  .• 

Gideon  Welles, 

April  15,  1865 

"             Interior  : 

John  P.  Usher, 

April  15,  1865 

K                   K 

James  Harlan, 

May  15,  1865 

«                   « 

Orville  H.  Browning, 

July  27,  1866 

Postjnaster-  General  : 

William  Dennison, 

April  15,  1865 

"                  " 

Alexander  W.  Randall, 

July  25,  1866 

Attorney-  General  : 

James  Speed, 

April  15,  1865 

K                       « 

Henry  Stanbery, 

July  23,  1866 

«               « 

William  M.  Evarts,                             July  15,  1  868 

ULYSSES  S.  GRANT:  March  4,  1869 — March  5,  1877  (two  terms). 


Secretary  of  State  : 

"  Treasury: 


War 


Navy  : 
Interior . 


Postmaster-  General . 


Attorney-  General . 


Hamilton  Fish,  appointed  March  n, 

George  S.  Boutwell,  "         March  n, 

William  A.  Richardson, 
Benjamin  H.  Bristow, 
Lot  M.  Morrill, 
John  A.  Rawlins, 
William  W.  Belknap, 
Alphonso  Taft, 
James  D.  Cameron, 
Adolph  E.  Borie, 
George  M.  Robeson, 
Jacob  D.  Cox, 
Columbus  Delano, 
Zachariah  Chandler, 
John  A.  T.  Creswell, 
Marshall  Jewell, 
James  N.  Tyner 


E.  Rockwood  Hoar, 
Amos  T   Akerman, 
George  H.  Williams, 
Edwards  Pierrepont, 
Alphonso  Taft, 


March  17, 

June  4, 
July  7, 
March  n, 

Oct.  25, 
March  8, 

May  22, 
March  5, 

June  25, 
March  5, 

Nov.  I, 

Oct.  19, 
March  5, 
Aug.  24, 

July  12, 
March  5, 

June  23, 
Dec.  14, 
April  26, 

May  29, 


1869 
1869 

1873 

1,74 
1876 
1869 
1869 
1876 
1876 
1869 
1869 
1869 
1870 

1875 
1869 

1874 
1876 
1869 
1870 

1871 


1876 


COMMANDERS  OF  THE   U.  S.  ARMY. 


555 


RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES  :    March  5,  1877—  M  irch  4> 


(one  term). 


Secretary  of  State  : 
ll  Treas^^ry 

War  ; 
n  (( 

«  Navy  : 

a  « 

"  Interior  : 

Postmaster-  General : 

Attorney-  General : 
JAMES  A.  GARFIELD  : 

Secretary  of  Sfate  : 
(l  Treasury 

War  : 

"  Navy  : 

"  Interior : 

Postmaster-  General  : 
Attorney-  General  : 


William  M.  Evarts, 
John  Sherman, 
George  W.  McCrary, 
Alexander  Ramsey, 
Richard  W.  Thompson, 
Nathan  Goff,  Jr., 
Carl  Schurz, 
David  McK.  Key, 
Horace  Maynard, 
Charles  Devens, 


appointed  March 
"  March 

•"  March 

"  Dec. 

March 
Jan. 
March 
March 
June 
March 


12,  1877 
8,  1877 

12,  1877 

10,  1879 

12,  1877 

6,  1881 
12,1877 

12,   1877 

2,  1880 

12, 1877 


March  4,  1881 — September  19, 1881  (partial  term). 


James  G.  Elaine, 
William  Windom, 
Robert  T.  Lincoln, 
William  H.  Hunt, 
Samuel  J.  Kirkwood, 
Thomas  L.  James, 
Wayne  MacVeagh, 


appointed  March  5,  1881 

"          March  5,  1881 

March  5,  1 88 1 

March  5,  1881 

March  5,  1 88 1 

"       '  March  5,  1881 

"          March  5,  1881 


CHESTER  A.  ARTHUR,  September  20,  1881— 

Secretary  of  State  :  F.  T.  Frelinghuysen, 

"  Treasury  :  Charles  J.  Folger, 

War  :  Robert  T.  Lincoln, 

"  Navy :  William  E.  Chandler, 

"  Interior :  Henry  M.  Teller, 

Postmaster-  General :  Timothy  O.  Howe, 

Attorney-  General :  Benjamin  H.  Brewster, 


appointed  Dec.  12,  1881 
Oct.  27,  1881 
"  Sept.  20,  1 88 1 

"  April    i,  1882 

"  April    6,  1882 

"  Dec.  20,  iSSi 

Dec.  19,  1881 


COMMANDERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  ARMY— 1775-1; 


Major-General  George  Washington 

Major-General  Henry  Knox 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Josiah  Harmer,  gener 

al-in-chief  by  brevet 

Major-General  Arthur  St.  Clair 

Major-General  Anthony  Wayne 

Major-General  James  Wilkinson....." 

Lieutenant-General  George  Washington.. 

Major-General  James  Wilkinson 

Major-General  Henry  Dearborn 

M  ijor-General  Jacob  Brown 

M.vjor-Genernl  Alexander  Macomb 

Major-General  Winfield  Scott(brevet  Lieu' 

tenant-General  i 

Major-General  George  B.McClellan 

Major-General  Henry  W.  Halleck 

Lieutenant  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant 

General  William  T.  Shermnn 

Lieutenant-General  Philip  H.  Sheridan..., 


.June  15,  1775,  to  December  23,  1783. 
December  23,  1783,  to  June  20,  1784. 

September,  1788.  to  March,  1791. 

March  4,  1791,  to  March,  1792. 

April  n,  1792,  to  December  15,  1796. 

.December  15,  1796,  to  July.  1798. 

July  3,  1798,  to  his  death,  December  14,  1799. 

June,  1800,  to  J.muary,  1812. 

.January  27,  1812,  to  June,  1815. 

.June,  1815,  to  February  21,  1828 

May  24,  1828,  to  June,  1841. 

,  fune,  1841,  to  November  i,  1861. 
November  i,  1861,  to  March  n,  1862. 
,July  ii,  1862,  tj  March  12,  1864. 
March  12   1864,  to  July  25,  1866,  and  as  Gen 
eral  to  March  4,  1869. 
.March  4,  1869,  to  November  i,  1883. 
Since  November  i,  1883. 


556 


CHIEF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  NA  VY. 


CHIEF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  ARMY. 

Entered  the  Army 

General  of  the  Army Lieut. -Gen.  Philip  H.Sheridan 1855 

Major-Generals Winfield  S.  Hancock 1844 

John  M.  Schofield I^S3 

John  Pope 1842 

Brigadier- Generals Oliver  O.  Howard 1854 

Alfred  H.  Terry 1865 

Christopher  C.  Augur  1843 

George  Crook 1852 

Nelson  A.  Miles 1866 

Ranold  S.  Mackenzie...  1862 


CHIEF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  NAVY. 


NAME. 

Whence 
Ap- 
pointed. 

Original 
Entry 
into 
Service. 

Rank. 

David  D.  Porter  

Penn..  .. 

1829 

1826 

I834 
I836 

1837 
l838 

1839 
1839 
1839 

1840 
1840 
1840 
1840 
1840 
1840 
I84I 
1841 
1841 
1841 
1841 
1841 
1841 
1841 
1841 
1841 
1841 
1841 
1841 
1841 
1841 

i 

Admiral. 
Vice-Admiral. 

-  Rear-  Admirals. 
Commodores. 

Stephen  C.  Rowan  
John  L.  Worden  

Ohio  
N.  Y  

Ga 

George  H.   Cooper  IN.   Y..  . 

Aaron  K.  Hughes          .  N.  Y 

Charles  H.  Baldwin     N.   V 

Robert  W.  Shufeldt  

N.  Y 

Thomas  Pattison  

Edward  Simpson  
William  G.  Temple  

N.  Y  

N.  Y.  
Vt 

Thomas  S.  Phelps  
Clark  H.  Wells  

S.  P.  Quackenbush. 

Maine.... 
Penn  

N.  Y 

Earl  English  
John  H.  Upshur  
Francis  A.  Roe  

N.  J  
D.  C  
N.  Y 

Samuel  R.  Franklin  

Edward  Y   McCauley 

Penn  
Penn  
Ill 

J.C.  P.  de  Krafft          

Oscar  C.    Badger 

Penn. 

Stephen  B.   Luce  

N.  Y. 

John  Lee  Davis  
Alexander  A.  Semmes  

Ind  
Md  
Penn  
Ill 

\Villiam  T.  Truxtun  . 

Jonathan   Young  

William  K.  Mayo  

James  E.  Jowett 

Va  
Ky. 

T.  Scott  Fillebrown. 

Maine... 
Md  

Johnuss   H.    Rell  

SPEAKERS. 


SPEAKERS  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES.* 


Name. 

State. 

Con 
gress 

Term  ot  Service. 

F.  A.  Muhlenberg  
Jonathan  Trumbull  
F.  A.  Muhlenberg  
Jonathan  Dayton  

Theodore  Sedgwick 

Pennsylvania  ... 
•Connecticut  
Pennsylvania  .... 
New  Jersey  

Massachusetts.... 
North  Carolina.. 

ISt 

2d 

3d 
4th 
5th 
6ch 
yth 
8th 
9th 
loth 
nth 
1  2th 
i3th 
i3th 
i4th 
i5th 
1  6th 
i6th 
I7th 
1  8th 
igth 

20th 
21St 
22d 
23d 

23d 

24th 
25th 
26th 
27th 
28th 
2gth 
3oth 

3ISt 
32d 

33d 

34th 
35th 
36th 

3?th 
38th 

39th 
4oth 
4ist 

42d 

43d 
44th 
4lth 
4^th 
46th 
47th 
4<Jtli 

April  i,  1789,  to  March  4,  1791 
October  24,  1791,  to  March  4.  1795 
December  2,  17^3,  to  March  4,  1795 
December  7,  1795,  to  March  4.  1797 
May  15,  1797,  to  March  3,  1799 
December  2,  1799,  to  March  4,  1801 
December  7,  18^1,  to  Mar:h  4,  1805 
October  17,  1805,  to  March  4,  18  ,5 
December  2,  1805,  to  March  4,  1807 
October  20,  1807,  to  March  4,  1809 
May  22,  1809,  to  March  4,  1811 
November  4,  1811,  to  March  4,  i8i3 
May  24,  1813,  to  Jan'y  19,  1814 
January  19,  1814,  to  March  4,  1815 
December  4,  1815,  to  March  4,  1817 
December  i,  1817,  to  March  4,  1819 
December  6,  1819,  to  May  15,  1820 
November  15.  1820,  to  March  4,  1821 
December  4,  1821,  to  March  4,  1825 
December  i,  1825,  to  March  4,  1825 
December  5,  1825,  to  March  4,  1827 
December  3,  1827,  to  March  4,  1829 
December  7,  1829,  to  March  4,  1831 
December  5,  1831,  to  March  4,  1833 
December  2,  1833,  to  June  2,  1834 
June  2,  1834,  to  March  4,  1835 
December  7,  1835,  to  March  4,  1837 
Septembers,  1837,  to  March  4,  1839 
Decemben6,  1839,  to  March  4,  1841 
May  31,  1841.  to  March  4,  1843 
December  4,  i843,  to  March  4,  18+5 
December  i,  1845,  to  March  4,  1847 
December  6,  1847,  to  March  4,  1849 
December22,  1849,10  March4,  1851 
December  i,  1851,  to  March  4,  '855 
December  5,  1853,  to  March  4,  1855 
February  2,  1856,  to  March  4,  1857 
December  7,  18^7,  to  March  4,  1859 
February  i,  1860,  to  March  4,  1861 
July  4,  1861,  to  March  4,  1863 
December  7,  1863,  to  March  4,  1865 
December  4,  1865,  to  March  4,  1867 
March  4,  1867,  to  March  4,  1869 
March  4,  1869,  to  March  4,  1871 
March  4,  1871,  to  March  4,  1873 
December  i,  1873,  to  Manh  4,  1875 
December  6,  187^,  to  Aug.  20,  1876 
December  4,  1876,  to  March  4,  1877 
October  15,  1877,  to  March  4,  1879 
March  18,  1879,  to  March  4,  i38i 
Decembers,  1881,  to  March  4,  1883 
December  3,  1883,  to 

X                                          fl 

Massachusetts.... 
Kentucky  
South  Carolina. 

Henry  Clay  

Henry  Clay  
John  W  Taylor  

Kentucky  
New  York  

Philip  P.  Barbour  

Henry  Clay 

Virginia  
Kentucky  

John  VV  Taylor 

New  York 

Andrew    Stevenson  
John  Bell  

Virginia  

Tennessee  

James  K    Polk  

Virginia  
Kentucky  
Virginia  

Robert  M.  T.  Hunter  
John  White  
John  W.  Jones  
}ohn  W    Divis 

Robert  C.  Winthrop  (Massachusetts  ... 

Linn  Boyd  

Kentucky  

Massachusetts... 
South  Carolina... 
New  Tersev  

Nathaniel  P.  Banks  

James  L.  Orr  

Wm.  Penninejton  

Galusha  A.  Grow  [Pennsylvania.... 
Schuyler  Colfax                      'Indiana  

James  G.  Blaine  . 

Michael  C.  Kerr  
Samuel  J.  Randall  

f.  Warren  Keifer  
John  G.  Carlisle  

Indiann  

Pennsylvania  

Ohio  
Kentucky  

*  Not  including  Speakers  pro  tern. 

CONGRESSIONAL   REPRESENTATION  OF  THE  STATES. 

I.    RATIO   OF  ^.EPRESKNTATIVES   AND    POPULATION. 

By  Constitution,  1789  One  to  30,000. 

First  Census,  from  March  4th,  1793 "     33,000. 

••     1803 "    33,000. 

"  "     1813 "    35,000. 


Second 
Third 


558 


CONGRESSIONAL  REPRESENTA  TIOX. 


By  Fourth  Census,  from  March  4th,  1823 One  to  40,000. 


Fifth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Eighth 

Ninth 

Tenth 


10oJ 

1843 

1^53 

1863  

1873 

1883 


47,700. 
70,680. 

93,423. 
127,381. 

131,425. 


II.  REPRESENTATIVES  FROM  EACH  STATE  UNDER  EACH  CENSUS. 


STATES. 

Consti-  | 
tution, 
1789. 

-31 

*l 

4 

3 
~   «j 

o 

*I 

*l' 

lo  C 

3 

6th 
census 

7th 

census 

(fl 

-C    3 
*| 

,^,=  3 
*§  ll 

Connecticut. 

5 

i 

I 

8 
3 
4 
6 

i 

5 
10 

7 
i 

2 

8 
H 

4 
5 

IO 
IO 

13 

2 

6 
19 

2 
2 

7 

4 
9 
17 

6 
17 

12 

18 

2 

8 

22 
6 

4 
3 

7 

2 

6 
9 

20 

6 
6 
27 
13 
23 

2 

9 
23 
10 
6 
6 
6 

6 

7 
9 
13 
6 
6 
34 
»3 
26 

2 

9 

22 
12 

5 
9 

H 
3 

i 

3 
3 
7 
i 
i 

6 

i 

9 
8 

12 

6 
40 

13 

28 

2 

9 

21 
13 

5 
13 
19 

5 
3 

7 

2 
2 

Delaware            

8 
6 

10 

4 
5 
34 
9 
24 

2 

7 
15 
10 

4 
ii 

21 

7 
7 
10 

4 
7 
4 
5 
i 

3 

I 

8 
6 
ii 
3 

5 
33 
8 

25 

2 

6 
U 

IO 

3 

10 
21 

7 
9 
ii 

4 
6 

5 

7 

2 

4 

2 

2 
2 

2 
3 

7 
5 

10 

3 
5 
3i 
7 
24 

2 

4 
u 

9 

8 

19 
6 

H 
1  1 

5 
5 
5 
9 

1 

3 
i 
6 

2 
I 

4 
6 

i 

i 

i 

9 
6 
ii 
3 

7 
33 
8 

27 

2 

5 
9 

IO 

3 

IO 

20 
8 
19 
13 

6 

6 
13 

4 
9 

1 

9 
3 
i 

6 

8 

3 
i 
i 

i 
3 

i 

IO 

6 

12 

2 

7 
34 
9 
28 

2 

7 

IO 

ii 

2 
IO 
21 

8 

20 
13 

6 
4 
7 
14 
5 
1  1 
6 

2 
II 

5 
i 

ii 
9 

7 
3 

i 

4 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

New  Hampshire  

New  Jersey. 

New  York. 

North  Carolina... 

Pennsylvania      

Rhode  Island  

South  Carolina  
Virginia  

Kentucky 

Vermont.           .... 

Tennessee  

Ohio  

Alabama  

Illinois  

Indiana  

Louisiana  . 

Maine 

Mississippi.  

Missouri  

Arkansas  

Michigan....  

California  

Florida  

Iowa  

Minnesota 

Oregon  

Texas  

Wisconsin  

Kansas  

Nebraska..... 

Colorado  

West  Virginia  

Whole  number  

65 

105!  141 

181:213  240223 

237 

243 

293325 

SUPREME  COURT. 


559 


Chief  Justices  and  Associate  Justices  of 
the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court.* 


State  Whence  Appointed. 


JohnJayf 

JohnRutledgef 

William  Gushing  \ 

James  Wilson  | 
John  Blairf 
Robert  H.  Harrison  f 
James  Iredellf 
Thomas  Johnson f 
William  Patterson  g 
JohnRutledgef 
Samuel  Chase  § 
Oliver  Ellsworthf 
Bushrod   Washington  $ 
AlfredMooref 
John  Marshall^ 
William    Johnson  $....„ 
Brockholst  Livingston  \ 
Thomas  Toddg 
Joseph   Story  \ 
Gabriel  Duval  j- 
Smith   Thompson  $ 
Robert  Trimble  § 
John  McLean  \ 
Henry  Baldwin  $ 

Tames   M.  Wayne  $ 

Roger  B.  Taney  f 
Philip  P.  Barbourg 
JohnCatron$ 

John  McKinley  $ 

Peter  V.Daniel  I 
Samuel  Nelson  f 
Levi  Woodbury  \ 
Robert  C.  Grierf 
Benjamin  R.  Curtis  f 
John  A.  Campbellf 
Nathan  Clifford  g 
Noah  H.  Swaynef 
Samuel  F.  Miller 
David   Davisf 


Term  of 

Service. 


1795 
1791 
1810 
1798 
1796 
1790 
1799 

1793 
1806 

1795 
1811 
1801 
1829 
1804 
i835 
1834 
1823 
1826 
1845 


Stephen  J.  Field 

Salmon  P.  Chase  § 

William  Strong  f [Pennsylvania 

Joseph  P.  Biadley !New    Jersey. 


New  York 1789- 

South  Carolina 1789- 

Massachussetts 1 789- 

Pennsylvania 1 789- 

Virginia 1789 

Maryland 1789- 

North  Carolina 1790- 

Maryland 1791- 

>Jew  Jersey 1793 

South  Carolina !795 

Maryland 1796- 

onnecticut 179&- 

Virginia 1 798- 

>Jorth  Carolina 1799- 

Virginia 1801- 

South  Carolina 1804- 

New  York 1806- 

ECentucky 1 1807- 

Massachusetts 11811- 

Maryland 1811-1836 

tfew  York  1823-1845 

Kentucky 1826-1828 

Ohio 11829-1861 

Pennsylvania j  1 830- 1 846 

Georgia  11835-1867 

Maryland 1836-1864 

Virginia 1836-1841 

Tennessee 1837-1865 

Alabama 1837-1852 

Virginia  1841-1860 

New  York  1845-1872 

New  Hampshire 11845-1851 

Pennsylvania 1846  1869 

Massachusetts 1851-1857 

Alabama    1853-1861 

Maine 1858-1881 

Ohio 1861-1881 

Iowa 1862- 

Illinois 1862-1877 

California 1863- 

Ohio 11864-1873 

1870-1880 
1870 


Ward    Hunt New  York 

Morrison  R.  Waite Ohio 

John  M.  Harlan..... 
William  B.  Woods 
Stanley  Matthews.. 

Horace   Grzly 

Samuel  Blatchford  . 


Kentucky 

Georgia 

Ohio , 

Massachusetts , 

New  York... 


1872 
1874 
1877 
1880 
1881 
1881 
1882 


-1882 


*  Chief  Justices  in  heavy  type,     f  Resigned.     1  Presided  one  term.     3  Died  in  office. 


560     WHERE  OUR  CHIEF  OFFICERS  CAME  FROM. 


WHERE  OUR   CHIEF  OFFICERS  CAME  FROM. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  Government  in  1789  to  1884. 


STATES. 

Presidents. 

V  ice- 
Presidents. 

* 

Is 

r 

Secretaries  of 
Treasury. 

Secretaries  of 
War. 

Secretaries  of 
Navy. 

Secretaries  of 
Interior. 

Postmasters- 
General. 

Attorneys-  General. 

Supreme  Court 
Justices. 

Presidents  pro  tern. 
of  Senate. 

O 

8 

I 

1 

Alabama  

T 

2 

C 

Arkansas    

California  

f 

I 

Colorado  

Connecticut  

T 

T 

? 

T 

4 

T 

I 

7 

I 

15 

Delaware 

2 

I 

4 

Florida           

Georgia    

I 

2 

? 

' 

2 

2 

-} 

i 

14 

Illinois     

2 

I 

^ 

I 

I 

8 

Indiana  

f 

I 

I 

2 

2 

I 

7 

ii 

Iowa  

,, 

2 

I 

c 

Kansas  

Kentucky 

2 

I 

I 

2 

27. 

Louisiana  

T 

T 

T 

T 

4 

Maine.           . 

I 

2 

I 

I 

8 

Maryland 

I 

2 

I 

3 

2 

c 

c 

2 

21 

M  assachusetts.  ,  .  . 

2 

a 

7. 

•3 

4 

c 

I 

c 

4. 

2 

4 

36 

Michigan        

T 

2 

2 

6 

Minnesota  

T 

i 

Mississippi  

I 

I 

T 

T 

4 

Missouri  

T 

I 

T 

3 

Nebraska  

Nevada  

New  Hampshire  

I 

T 

,, 

T 

7 

8 

New  Jersey  

T 

7 

2 

T 

2 

Q 

New  York. 

7 

7 

C 

C 

2 

•? 

6 

I 

T 

4! 

North  Carolina  

A 

2 

7 

T 

IO 

Ohio  

7 

4 

7 

•3 

•3 

7, 

C 

T 

T 

7,6 

Oregon  

Pennsylvania  
Rhode  Island 

I 

1 

3 

7 

6 

2 



2 

6 

4 

3 

2 

3 

38 

2 

South  Carolina  

T 

? 

„ 

T 



T 

2 

3 

2 

Tennessee  

7, 

T 

T 

7, 

7 

T 

2 

16 

Texas  

j 

I 

Vermont  

I 

7 

4 

Virginia 

C 

2 

6 

•J 

I 

c 

I 

4 

4° 

West  Virginia 

Wisconsin... 

>> 

y 

7 

Total  

— 

?0 

?o 

7,4 

77 

7O 


7.O 

7,8 

40 

CO 

70 

38 

-M 

OUR  REPRESENTATIVES  ABKOAD. 


561 


OUR  REPRESENTATIVES  ABROAD. 


COUNTRY. 

Name  and  Rank. 

Residence. 

Salary. 

#7,5o» 
12,000 
3.5«> 
7,5°° 
5,000 
12,000 
1,800 

10,000 
10,000 
12,000 
5,000 

7.5°° 
5.000 
5,000 
17-500 
3,625 

2,000 

17>5°o 
2,625 
2,000 
i7,5oo 
2,625 

2,000 

6.500 

7,500 

5,000 

12,000 

3»5oo 

^2,000 

2,500 

2,500 

5,000 
12,000 
i,  800 
7,500 

5,ooo 

5,000 
10,000 
5,000 
6,500 
17,500 
2,625 
6.500 
5,000 

12,000 

3,OOO 
7,500 
5,09«> 
7,500 
3,500 

3,000 
7,500 

Argentine   Republic 
Austria-Hungary  ... 

Thomas  O.  Osborn,  Min.  Res  
Alphonso  Taft,*  E.  E.  and  M   P  

Buenos  Ayres  

Vienna  

Micholas  Fish,  Minister  Res  
Richard  Gibbs,  M.  R.  and  C.  G  
Thomas  A.  Osborne,  E.  E.  and  M.  P. 

Brussels  
La  Paz  

Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Bolivia  
Brazil  

Central  American 
States  

Chili 

Charles  B.  Trail,  Sec.  Legation  
Henry  C.  Hall   E.  E.  and  M    P  . 

Rio  de  Janeiro  

C.  A.  Logan,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  

China  

J.  Russell  Young,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  

Peking. 

Colombia  

Chester  Holcombe,  Sec.  and  Int  

Peking 

Wm.  L.  Scruggs,  Minister  Res  

Bogota  

Corea  
Denmark  

Lucius  H.  F  ote,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  
Wick'm  Hoffman,  M.  R.  and  C.  G.... 
Levi  P.  Morton,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  

Copenhagen  
Paris  .. 

France  

Germany  
Great  Britain  

Greece  
Hawaiian  Islands.... 
Hayti           

E.  J.  Brulatour,  Sec.  Legation  
Henri  Vign.,ud,  2d  Sec.  Legation  

Paris  

Paris 

Aaron  A.  Sargent,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.... 
H.  Sidney  Everett,  Sec.  Legation  
Chapman  Coleman,  2d  S.  Legation  
James  R.  Lowell,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  
Wm.  J.  Hoppin,  Sec.  Legation  
E.  S.  Nadal,  2d  Sec.  Legation  

Berlin  
Berlin  
Berlin  
London  
London  

Eugene  Schuyler,  M.  R.  and  C.  G  .... 
Rollin  M.  Daggett,  Alin.  Res  

Athens  

John  M    Langston,  M.  R.  and  C.  G.. 
Wm.  W.  Astor,  E.   E.  and  M.  P  
Lewis  Richmond,  Sec.  of  Leg.  and  C. 

Port  au  Prince  
Rome  

Italy  

Japan 

John  A.  Bin^ham,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.... 
^ustavus  Coward,  Sec.  Legation  
Willis  N.  Whitney,  Interpreter  
J.  H.  Smyth,  M.  R.  and  C.  G  
Philip  H.  Morgan,  E.  E.  and  M.  P... 

Tokei  (Yedo)  
Tokei  (Yedo)  
Tokei  (Yedo)  
Monrovia  

Liberia  
Mexico  

Netherlands  

Paraguay   and  Uru 

Henry  H.  Morgan,  Sec.  Legation  
Wm.  L.  Dayton,  Minister  Res  

Wm   Williams,  Charge  d'Affaires  
S.  G.  W.    Benjamin,  Min.  Res.  and 
Consul-General  

Mexico  
The  Hague  

Montevideo  

Persia      

Peru  

Portugal  

Seth  S.  Phelps,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  
John  M.  Francis,  M.  R.  and  C.  G  
Eugene  Schuyler,  M.R.andC.  G  

George  W.  Wertz,  Sec.  Legation  
Eugene  Schuyler,  M.  R.  and  C.  G  
J.  A.  Halderman,  M   R.andC   G 

Lima  
Lisbon  
Athens  

St.  Petersburg  
St.  Petersburg  
Athens  

'Bangkok  .... 

Roumania  

cervia  

Spain  

John  W.  Foster,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  (Madrid  

Sweden  and  Norway 
Switzerland  
Turkey  

Vene«U-la  

Dwigbt  T.  Reed,  Sec.  and  C.  G  iMadrid  
Wm.  W.Thomas,  Jr.,  Min.  Res  Stockholm  
Michael  J.  Cramer,  M.  R.  and  C.  G...;Berne,  
Lewis  Wallace,  E.  E.  and  M.  P  Constantinople  
G.  Harris  Heap.  Sec.  Leg.  and  C.  G..  Constantinople  
A.  A.  Gargiulo,  Interpreter  '.Constantinople  
Jehu  Baker,  Minister  Res  'Caracas  

c  5  2 


REPRESENTA  77  K£5 


OUR  REPRESENTATIVES  FROM  ABROAD 


COUNTRY. 


NAME. 


Argentine  Republic 1  Sefior  Don  Louis  L.  Dominguez.* 

j  Sefior  Don  Florencio  L.   Dominguez.f 
Austria-Hungary [Baron  Ignatz   von  Schaeffer  (absent). * 

! Count   von   Lippe  Weissenfield.J 
Belgium :Mr.   Bounder  de  Melsbroeck.* 

Count    Gaston  d'Arschot.J 

Brazil Senhor  J.  G.  do  Amaral  Valente.J 

Chili Sefior  Don  Joaquin    Godoy.* 

Sefior   Don  Federico    Pinto.f 
China I  Mr. Cheng  Tsao  Ju.# 

Mr.  Tsii  Shau  Pung.f 

Denmark...  !Mr.  Carl  Steen  Anderson  de  Billie.$ 

France Mr.  Theodore  Roustan  (absent).* 

I  Mr.  Horace  Denaut.^ 
Germany , [Captain  C.  von  Eisendecker.* 

Count  Lyden.f 
Great  Britain The  Honorable  L.  S.  Sackville  West.* 

Dudley  E.  Saurin,  Esq.f 

Hawaii  , Mr.  H.  A.  P.  Carter.* 

Hayti |Mr.  Stephen  Preston.* 

I  Mr.  Charles  A.  Preston.f 
Italy !Baron  de  Fava  (absent).* 

I  Marquis  A.  Dalla  Valle  de  Mirabello.J 
Japan jjoshii  Terashima  Munenori    (absent).* 

jMr.  Naito  Ruijiro.f 
Mexico iSefior  Don  Matias  Romero  (absent1!.* 

Sefior  Don  Cayetano  Romero. J 
Mr.  G.  de  Weckherlin  (absent).^ 


Netherlands. 
Peru  .. 


Baron  P.  de  Smeth  Van  Alphen 
Senor  Don  J.  Federico    Elmore. 


ras. 


Portugal  ...............................  j  Viscount  das  Noguei 

Russia  .................................  Mr.  Charles  dc  Struve.* 

Mr.  Gregoire  de  \Villamov.f 
Spain  ....................................  Stfior  Don  Juan  Valera.* 

Sefior  Don  Enrique  Dupuy  de  Lome.J 
Sweden  and  Norway  ................  |  Count  Carl  Lewenhaupt  (absent).* 

Mr.  C.  de  Bildt.J 
Switzerland  .....................  ......  jColonel  Emile  Frey.* 

(Major  Karl  Kloss.f 
Turkey  ..................................  ITewfik  Pasha.* 

!Rustem  Effendi.f 
Sefior  Don  Enrique  M.  Estrazulas.  \ 


:!:  Knvoy     Extraordinary     and    Minister    Plenipotentiary,     t  Secretary   of    Legation. 
\  Counselor  and  Charge  d'  Affaires.     $  Minister  ResidentVnd  Consul  General. 


PAY  OF  CHIEF  OFFICERS  U.  S.  NAVY. 
PAY  OF  THE  CHIEF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  NAVY. 


At  Sea. 

On  Shore 
Duty. 

On  Leave 
or  Waiting 
Orders 

Admiral      .          

$1  7  OOO 

$13  ooo 

<s  T  ••}  ooo 

Vice-Admiral  

0  OOO 

8  OOO 

6  ooo 

Rear-  Admirals  

6  ooo 

c  OOO 

4  ooo 

Commodores  

c  OOO 

4  ooo 

3  ooo 

Captains      .  .. 

4.  C.OO 

3  CQO 

2  8OO 

Commanders  

1  <?OO 

•3  OOO 

2  T.OQ 

Lieutenant-Commanders  — 
First  four  years..                      

2  800 

2  400 

2  OOO 

After  four  years 

•?  ooo 

2  6OO 

2  2OO 

Lieutenants  —  First  five  years.. 

2  4OO 

2  OOO 

I  6OO 

After  five  years. 

2  6OO 

2  2OO 

I  8OO 

Masters  —  First  five  years..  . 

I   800 

I   ^OO 

I  2OO 

After  five  years  

2,OOO 

I  7  CO 

I  4OO 

Ensigns  —  First  five  years  

I,2OO 

I  OOO 

8OO 

After  five  years..  . 

I  4-OO 

I  2OO 

I  OOO 

Midshipmen  

I  OOO 

800 

600 

Cadet  Midshipmen  

^OO 

CQO 

CQO 

Mates  

QOO 

7OO 

Medical  and   Pay  Directors,  Inspectors,  ano 
Chief  Engineers  

4  4OO 

/"V 

500 

Fleet  Surgeons,  Paymasters,  and  Engineers. 
Surgeons,  Paymasters,  and  Chief  Engineers  — 
First  five  years.. 

4,400 

2  8OO 

2  4.OO 

Second  five  years  

•?  2OO 

2  8OO 

2  4OO 

Third  five  years  

•?,  coo 

1  2OO 

2  6oO 

Fourth  five  years  

1  7OO 

1  6OO 

2  8OO 

Aftertwenty  years  

4.  2OO 

4  OOO 

•7  OOO 

Passed  Assistant  Surgeons,  Paymasters,  and 
Engineers  —  First  five  years.. 

2,OOO 

1,  800 

I   C.OO 

After  five  years 

2  2OO 

2  OOO 

I  700 

Assistant  Surgeons,  Paymasters,  and  Engi 
neers  — 
First  five  years  

I  7OO 

I  4OO 

I  OOO 

After  five  years  

I  QOO 

I  600 

I   2OO 

Chaplains  —  Fir>t  five  years 

2  soo 

2  OOO 

I  OOO 

After  five  years 

2  8OO 

2  'JOO 

I  QOO 

Boatswains,  Gunners,  Carpenters,  and  Sail- 
makers  — 
First  three  years  

2OO 

QOO 

ijyvw 
7OO 

Second  three  years  

'?OO 

I  OOO 

800 

Third  three  years  

4OO 

I   ^OO 

QOO 

Fourth  three  years  

600 

I   7OO 

I  OOO 

After  twelve  years  

,800 

I  600 

I  2OO 

Cadet  Engineers  (after  examination)  

I,  OOO 

800 

600 

564  PA  YMENTS  FOR  PENSIONS. 

PAY  OF  CHIEF  OFFICERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  ARMY. 

I 

Pay  of  Officers  in  Active  Service. 


GRADE  OR  RANK. 

1 

Nearly  Pa> 

First  5 
years 
service. 

After  5 
years 
service. 

After  10 
years 
service. 

After  15 
years 
service. 

After  20 
years 
service. 

$13,500 

IO  /.    c. 

20  /.    c. 

30  /.  c 

40  /.  c. 

Lieutenant-General   

II,OOO 

Maior-General            

7  5OO 

Brigadier-General  

5,5OO 

3,5OO 

$3,850 

$4,2OO 

$4,5OO 

$4,5OO 

Lieutenant  -Colonel 

3,OOO 

3,700 

7,6oo 

3,000 

4  OOO 

Major  

2,5OO 

2,750 

3,OOO 

3,250 

!3,5OO 

Captain   mounted. 

2,OOO 

2,2OO 

2,400 

2,600 

2  800 

Captain  not  mounted   .... 

I  800 

080 

2  160 

2,340 

2  S2O 

Regimental  Adjutant  

1,  800 

980 

2,  1  60 

2,340 

2  <;2O 

Regimental  Quartermaster  
1st  Lieutenant  mounted 

1,  800 
I  6OO 

980 
760 

>    .. 

2,160 

Q2O 

2,340 
2,080 

2,520 

2  24O 

1st  Lieutenant,  not  mounted... 
2d  Lieutenant,  mounted 

I,5OO 
I   ^OO 

,650 

i  6so 

,800 
,800 

!,95° 
I.Q5O 

2,100 
2,IOO 

2d  Lieutenant,  not  mounted.. 
Chaplain  

1,400 
1,500 

i,540 
1,650 

,680 
,800 

1,820 
1,950 

1,960 
2,IOO 

PAYMENTS  FOR  PENSIONS  IN   1883. 


Pensions  paid  during  the  Year. 

Number  of 
Pensioners. 

STATES. 

For  Regular 
Pensions. 

For 
Arrears  of 
Pensions. 

Salary  and 
Expenses 
of  Pension 
Agents. 

Total 
Disburse 
ments. 

1882. 

1883. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Dollars. 

Maine  

1,948,453.54 

521.47 

11,938.11 

1,960  913.12 

11,526 

11,827 

M  issachusetts  

4,045,320.08 

4,091.60 

18,858.60 

4,068,270.28 

22,004 

23,495 

1  liinois  

5,863,544.76 

5,26^.30 

22,643.97 

5,891,449.03  j  23,557 

25  854 

Ohio  |   5,636,155.64 

8,43'-57 

23,562.99 

5  668,150.20 

26,163 

27.686 

New  Hampshire...  |    2.087  44  0.8  :> 

4,216.72 

13  264.55     2,104,922.07 

II,r28 

11,007 

Iowa      ....           . 

o    6l6  QQ7  71 

1,413.73 

iA.2^8.^6  1   -i  612  760.60 

13  86j 

16,051 

Michigan  

j,uiu,yy  /o  A 

2.753.227.40 

2,760.28      14,039.04 

2,772,026.72 

11,999 

13,08:1 

Indiana  :     5,100,^07.50 

4,126.67  !    17,483.23 

5,122,117.40 

18,805 

20921 

Tennessee        .......      2  842  400  60 

7,483.83   j   15,379.76     2,865,264.28  ;    17,693 

17,189 

Kentucky  ||  1^600,  370.16 

7,35  .60        83^3.37     1,616,077.13       6,606 

7,001 

Wisconsin  3,282.322.78 

3,5I5-42 

i4,39I-I3 

3.300,229.33 

i3.033 

H  65? 

New  York  : 

2,809,535.73 

3.965.93      19,205.99  i  2,832,707.65  I   16,017 

16,147 

Pennsylvania  
Pennsylvania  , 

3,176,762.17 

3,05497^.95 

5.364.72  i   17,997  49 
4,081.47      13  224.50 

3,200,124.38      18,715 
3,072,281  92      j6,?so 

19,300 
16,006 

California.... 

408,379.66 

5,850.22 

414,238.88 

1,962 

2,191 

New  York  

I  4,088.557.37 

2,198.01       19,240.51      4,109,995.89 

20,962 

22,338 

Kansas  1  4,174,62448 

8,053.01       16,438.17     4.199,115.66  !   15,193 

^,525 

Oist.  of  Columbia..  ||  3,572,433.21 

6,970.37      22,915.73 

3,601,319.31 

20,324 

2i,393 

!  60,064.0-^5.27 

7*1  8-^8.70    288.154.92    6o,43r,972.85    285,697     303,658 

BALANCE  OF  TRADE. 


565 


BALANCE  OF  TRADE, 

Showing  our  imports,  our  exports,  and  the  excess  either  way  for 
twenty  years. 


YEAR. 

Merchandise  at  Gold  Value. 

Imports. 

Exports. 

Excess. 

1864  

$316,447,283 
238,745»580 
434,812,066 
395,703,100 
357,436,440 

4i7,506,379 
435,958,408 
520,223,684 
626,505,077 
642,136,210 
567,406,342 
533,005,436 
460,741,191 
451,323,126 
437,o5i,532 
445,777,775 
667,954,740 
642,664,628 

724,639,574 
723,180,914 

$158,887,988 
162,013,500 
348,859,522 

297,303,653 
281,952,899 
286,117,697 
392,771,768 
442,820,178 
444,177,586 
522,479,317 
586,283,040 
513,441,711 
540,384,671 
602,475,220 
694,848,496 
710,439,441 
835,638,658 
902,367,346 
750,542,257 
823,839,402 

Imports  $157,559,295 
Imports  76,732,082 
Imports  85,952,544 
Imports  98,459,447 
Imports  75,483,541 
Imports  131,388,682 
Imports  43,186,640 
Imports  77,403,506 
Imports  182,417,491 
Imports  119,656,288 
Exports  1^1^698 
Imports  I9>56i725 
Exports  79',6'23,48o 
Exports  152,152,094 
Exports  257,796,964 
Exports  264,661,666 
Exports  167,683,912 
Exports  259,702,718 
Exports  25,902,683 
Exports  100,658,488 

1865  

1866  

1867  

1868  

1860..., 

1870  

1871  

1872  

1871  .. 

1874  

1875  

1876  

1877  

1878  

1879              

1880  

1881  

1882  

1*83  

YEAR. 

Specie. 

Imports. 

Exports. 

Excess. 

1864  

$13,1  15,612 

$10=;,  706,  ^41 

Exports  $92  280  929 

i86< 

9810  072 

67  643  226 

Exports    ?7  877  i  c/i 

1866 

10  700  092 

86  044  07  1 

Exports    7?  747  070 

1867  

22,070,475 

60,868,372 

Exports    78,707  807 

1868 

14  1  88  368 

Q-?  784  IO2 

Exports    70  ^o^  774 

1869 

19  807  876 

[-7  fig  ^80 

Exports    77  7  70  ^04 

1870 

26  4IQ  I7Q 

rS  i  cc;  666 

Exports    31  776486 

1871 

21   270  024 

08  441  088 

Exports    77  171  964 

1872 

1  1  747  680 

7Q  877  <J  34 

Exports    66  177  84? 

187^ 

21  480  O77 

84  608  ^74 

Exports    63  127  677 

1874 

28  41:4,0,06 

c6  670  40^ 

Exports    28  17^400 

1875 

20  000,727 

92  132,142 

Exports    71  231  425 

1876         

I  ^  0.76,681 

%6,z  06,702 

Exports    40  569  621 

1877 

40,774,414 

^6,162  277 

Exports    1C,  787  7^7 

1878 

29,821,314 

77,777  22? 

Exports      3,911,911 

1879 

20,296.0  o 

24,997,44! 

Exports      4,701,441 

1880 

07,  074,710 

17  142,010 

Imports    75,891,391 

1881 

1  10,^7^,407 

19,406,847 

Imports    91,168650 

1882  

42,472,390 

49,417,479 

Exports      6,945,089 

1883  

28,489,391 

31,820,333 

Exports      3,330,942 

566 


KEIENUES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


YEAR  ENDED 

JUNE  30. 

Amount 
collected. 

Expense 
of  collecting. 

Per  cent, 
of  cost. 

1858 

$41  789,620.96 

$2,903,336.89 

6.94 

l8sQ           .... 

4.Q  s6^  824.78 

3,407,971.77 

6.85 

1860 

S7  1^7.^1  1.b7 

3,377  1  88.  ix 

6.27 

1861 

•30  1:82,12^.64 

2,843,455.84 

7.18 

1862 

40,0^6  }Q7  62 

3,270,560.79 

6.67 

1867 

6  J.CKO.642.4O 

3.181  026.17 

4.60 

w 

1864 

102,316,152.99 

4,19^,582.43 

4.09 

£-> 

i86s 

84  928,260.60 

5,415,449.32 

6.39 

w 

1866    

179,046,651.58 

5,342,469.99 

2.98 

> 

1807         

176,417,810.88 

5,763.979.01 

3.26 

w 

1868         

164,464,599.56 

7,641,116.68 

4-65 

1860..., 

180,048,416.63 

5,388,082.31 

2.99 

1870 

104,  >^8  374-44 

6  233,747.68 

3.2O 

0 

1871  

206,270,408.05 

6,568,350.61 

3-l8 

H 

1872 

216,370  286.77 

6,950,173.88 

3.21 

p 

187^ 

188,089.522.70 

7,077,864.70 

376 

u 

1874 

163,10^,833.69 

7  321,469.94 

4.49 

w 

1871; 

157  167,722.35 

7,028,521.80 

4-47 

1876  

148,071,984.61 

6,704,858.09 

4-53 

H 

1877  

130,956,493.07 

6,501,037.57 

4.96 

1878  

130,170,680.20 

5,826,974.32 

4-47 

1870 

I  ^7,2^0.047  7O 

5,477,421.52 

3-99 

1880 

186,522,064.60 

0,023,253.53 

3.23 

iSSi 

198  I  ZQ  O76.O2 

6,383.288.10 

3.22 

1882  

220  410,730.25 

6,506,359.26 

2.95 

1883... 

214,706,496.93 

6,593,509.43 

3.07 

f   1863 

$77,640,787.9^ 

$108,685.00 

0.29 

1864  

109,741,134.10 

253.372.99 

0.23 

1865  .. 

209,464,21  5.25 

385,239.52 

0.18 

1866  

309,226,813.42 

5,783,128.77 

1.87 

w 

p 

1867  

266,027,537.43 

7,335,029.81 

2.77 

fe 

1868  

191,087,589.41 

8,705,366.36 

4-55 

W 

1869 

158,356,460.86 

7,257,176.11 

4-59 

> 

w 

1870 

184,899.756.49 

7  257,439.81 

3  92 

P4 

1871  

143,098,153.63 

7,593.714.17 

5-3° 

,_3 

1872  

130,642,177.72 

5,694,116.86 

4-36 

1877 

1  1  7,7'>q  7IA  14 

5,  340,270.00 

4.69 

£ 

1874  

102,409,784.90 

4,509.976.05 

4.40 

c4 
W 

1875  

110,007.493.58 

4,289,442.71 

3-89 

1876 

1  16,700,732.03 

3.942,617.72 

3-38 

g 

1877 

1  1  8  630,407.83 

3,556,943.85 

2.99 

1878     

110,581  624.74 

3,28o,l62  22 

2.96 

w 

1879  

113,561,610.58 

3,527,956.56 

3.16 

H 

1880  

124,009,373  92  i 

3,6^7,105.10 

2-9S 

1881.    . 

I  T.Z  264,78^.51 

4,327,793.24 

3.20 

1882  

1  46,497,  C;Q  5.  45 

4.097,241.34 

2.79 

[    1883  

144,720,368.98 

4,424,707,39 

3-°5 

PUBLIC  DEBT  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 


PUBLIC  DEBT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


\_To  j-anuary  ist  of  each  year  to  1842.  To  Jufy  ist,  front  184.3—1883.] 


I/91 $75463,476 

1792 77,227,924 

1793  80,352,634 

1794 78,427,404 

1795 80,747,587 

1796 83,762,172 

1797 82,064,479 

1798 79,228,529 

1799  78,408,669 

1800 82,976,294 

1801 83,038,050 

1802 86,712,632 

1803 77,054,686 

1804 86,427,120 

1805 82,312,150 

1806 75,723,270 

1807  69,218,398 

1808  65,196,317 

1809 57,023,192 

1810 53>173>2i7 

1811  48,005,587 

1812  45,209,737 

1813  55,962,827 

1814 81,487,846 

1815  99,833,660 

1816  127,334,933 

1817  123,491,965 

1818  103,466,633 

1819  95,529,648 

1820  91,015,566 

1821  89,987,427 

1822  93,546,676 

1823 90,875>877 

1824 90,269,777 

1825 83,788,432 

1826 81,054,059 

1827 73,987,357 

1828 67,475,043 

1829 58,421,413 

1830 48,565,406 

1831 39,123,191 

1832 24,322,235 

1833 7,001,698 

1834 4,760,082 

1835 37.5J3 

^36 336,957 

1837 


52  l838 $10,434,221  14 

66  1839 3,573,343  82 

041840 5,250,875  54 

771841 13,594,480  73 

3911842 20,601,226  28 

07  1843 32,742,922  oo 

33  1844 23,461,652  50 

12  1845 15,925,303  OI 

77  1846 15,550,202  97 

35  1847 38,826,534  77 

801848 47,044.862  23 

25  1849 63,061,858  69 

3° '850 63,452,773  55 

88  1851 68,304,796  02 

501852 66,199,341  71 

66  1853 59,803,117  70 


1854. 


42,242,222  42 

855 35,586,858  56 

'856 3J,972,537  90 

1857 28,699,831  85 

1858 44,911,881  03 

1859 58,496,837  88 

1860 64,842,287  £8 

1861 90,580,873  72 

1862  524,176,412  13 

1863 1,119,772,138  63 

1864 1,815,784,370  57 

1865 2,680,647,869  74 

1866 2,773,236,173  69 

1867 2,678,126.103  87 

1868 2,611,687,851  19 

1869 2,588,452,213  94 

1870 2,480,672,427  81 

2,353,2H,332  32 


7i  1872 2,253,251,328  78 

99|l873 2,234,482.993  20 

2011874 2,251,690,468  43 

87  1875 2,232,284,531  95 

67  1876 2,180,395067  15 

50  1877 2,205,301,392  10 

68:1878 2,256,205,892  53 

1811879 2,245,495,072  04 

8311880 2,120,415,370  63 

08  1881 2,069,017,569  58 

05  i8b2 1,918,312,994  03 

83^1883 1,884,171,728  07 

07] 


568 


POLITICAL  DIVISION  OF  THE  HOUSE. 


POLITICAL  DIVISION  OF  THE  PRESENT  HOUSE  OF  REPRE« 
SENTATIVES. 


STATES. 

6 
Q 

d 
(5 

STATES. 

s 

£ 

d 

X 

8 

Missouri.  .        .... 

J4 

Arkansas  

c 

Nebraska  

•j 

California.        

6 

Nevada  

I 

Colorado  

I 

New  Hampshire  

2 

Connecticut. 

j 

New  Jersey 

Delaware 

New  York 

21 

I    7 

Florida 

j 

Noith  Carolina 

8 

I 

Georgia       ... 

IO 

Ohio  

1  1 

8 

Illinois  

q 

I  j 

Oregon  . 

i 

Indiana  

Q 

Pennsylvania. 

12 

I  c 

Iowa   

4 

7 

Rhode  Island 

2 

Kansas  

7 

South  Carolina  . 

6 

I 

Kentucky 

2 

Tennessee 

8 

2 

1  ^ouisiana.. 

j 

Texas 

IO 

Maine  .. 

Vermont 

2 

Maryland. 

4 

2 

Virginia 

c 

Massachusetts 

•j 

\Vest  Virginia 

-? 

I 

Michigan.                  .  . 

I 

!  \Visconsin 

6 

3 

Minnesota    . 

c 

Mississippi  

6 

Total  .  .  . 

IQ8 

124 

Total 322 

Greenback    I 

Vacancies...  2 


325 


CONSTITUTION  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

[Went  into  operation  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  March,  1789.] 


PREAMBLE. 

WE,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect 
union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the  com 
mon  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Con 
stitution  for  the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICLE  I. 

OF  THE  LEGISLATIVE  POWER. 

SECTION  1.  All  legislative  powers  herein  granted  shall  be  vested  in  a 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of  a  Senate  and  Hous«» 
of  Representatives. 

OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

SEC.  2.  The  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  composed  of  members 
chosen  every  second  year  by  the  people  of  the  several  States,  and  the  elec 
tors  in  each  State  shall  have  the  qualifications  requisite  for  eleetors  of  the 
most  numerous  branch  of  the  State  Legislature. 

No  person  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the 
age  of  twenty-five  years,  and  been  seven  years  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  State  in 
which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

Representatives  and  direct  taxes  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several 
States  which  may  be  included  within  this  Union,  according  to  their  re 
spective  numbers,  which  shall  be  determined  by  adding  to  the  whole 
number  of  free  persons,  including  those  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of 
years,  and  excluding  Indians  not  taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  other  persons. 
The  actual  enumeration  shall  be  made  within  three  years  after  the  first 
meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  within  every  subsequent 
term  of  ten  years,  in  such  manner  as  they  shall  by  law  direct.  The  num 
ber  of  Representatives  shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty  thousand,  but 
each  State  shall  have  at  least  one  Representative;  and,  until  such  enume 
ration  shall  be  made,  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to 
choose  three,  Massachusetts  eight,  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Planta 
tions  one,  Connecticut  five,  New  York  six,  New  Jersey  four,  Pennsylvania 
eight,  Delaware  one,  Maryland  six,  Virginia  ten,  North  Carolina  five, 
South  Carolina  five  .and  Georgia  three. 

When  vacancies  happen  in  tbe  representation  from  any  State,  the  execu- 
tf  ve  authority  thereof  shall  issue  writs  of  election  to  fill  such  vacancies. 

The  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  their  speaker  and  other  offi 
cers;  and  shall  have  the  sole  power  of  impeachment. 

OF  THE  SENATE. 

SKC.  3.  The  Pen  ate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two  Senators 
from  each  State,  chosen  by  the  Legislature  thereof,  for  six  years ;  and  each 
Senator  shall  have  one  vote. 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  consequence  of  the  first 
election,  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may  be  into  three  classes. 
The  seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first  class  shall  be  vacated  at  the  expira 
tion  of  the  second  year,  of  the  second  class  at  the  expiration  of  the  fourth 
year,  and  of  the  third  class  at  the  expiration  of  the  sixth  year,  so  that 
one-third  may  be  chosen  every  second  year;  and  if  vacancies  happen  by 
resignation,  or  otherwise,  during  the  recess  of  the  Legislature  of  any  State. 
the  executive  thereof  may  make  temporary  appointments  until  the  nexi 
meeting  of  the  Legislature,  which  shall  then  fill  such  vacancies. 


570 


CONSTITUTION 


No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the  age  ol 
thirty  years,  and  been  nine  years  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  who 
shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  inhabitant  of  that  State  for  which  he  shall 
be  chosen. 

The  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  shall  be  President  of  the  Senate, 
but  shall  have  no  vote,  unless  they  be  equally  divided. 

The  Senate  shall  choose  their  other  officers,  and  have  a  President  pro 
tempore,  in  the  absence  of  the  Vice-President,  or  when  he  shall  exercise 
the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  power  to  try  all  impeachments.  "When 
sitting  for  that  purpose,  they  shall  be  on  oath  or  affirmation.  When  the 
President  of  the  United  States  is  tried,  the  Chief  Justice  shall  preside;  and 
no  person  shall  be  convicted  without  the  concurrence  of  two-  thirds  of  the 
members  present. 

Judgment  in  cases  of  impeachment  shall  not  extend  further  than  to 
removal  from  office,  and  disqualification  to  hold  and  enjoy  any  office  of 
honor,  trust  or  profit,  under  the  United  States;  but  the  party  convicted 
shall  nevertheless  be  liable  and  subject  to  indictment,  trial,  judgment  and 
punishment  according  to  law. 

MATTER  OF  ELECTING  MEMBERS. 

SEC.  4.  The  times,  places  and  manner  of  holding  elections  for  Senators 
and  Representatives,  shall  be  prescribed  in  each  State  by  the  Legislature 
thereof;  but  the  Congress  may  at  any  time,  by  law,  make  or  alter  such 
regulations,  except  as  to  the  places  of  choosing  Senators. 

CONGRESS  TO  ASSEMBLE  AXNTTALLY. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  year,  and  such  meet 
ing  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  unless  they  shall  by  law 
appoint  a  different  day. 

POWERS. 

SEC.  5.  Each  house  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  elections,  returns  and  quali 
fications  of  its  own  members,  and  a  majority  of  each  shall  constitute  a 

§uorum  to  do  business;  but  a  smaller  number  may  adjourn  from  day  to 
ay,  and  may  be  authorized  to  compel  the  attendance  of  absent  members, 
in  such  manner,  and  under  such  penalties,  as  each  house  may  provide. 

Each  house  may  determine  the  rules  of  its  proceedings,  punish  its  mem 
bers  for  disorderly  behavior,  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds, 
expel  a  member. 

Each  house  shall  keep  a  journal  of  its  proceedings,  and  from  time  to 
time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  parts  as  may,  in  their  judgment, 
require  secrecy;  and  the  yens  and  nays  of  the  members  of  either  house 
on  any  question  shall,  at  the  desire  of  one-fifth  of  those  present,  be  entered 
on  the  journal. 

Neither  house,  during  the  session  of  Congress,  shall,  without  the  con 
sent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three  days,  nor  to  any  other  place 
than  that  in  which  the  two  houses  shall  be  sitting. 

COMPENSATION,  ETC.,  OF  MEMBERS. 

SEC.  6.  The  Senators  and  Representatives  shall  receive  a  compensation 
for  their  services,  to  be  ascertained  by  law,  and  paid  out  of  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States.  They  shall  in  all  casses,  except  treason,  felony  and 
breach  of  the  peace,  be  privileged  from  arrest  during  their  attendance  at 
the  session  of  their  respective  houses,  and  in  going  to  and  returning  from 
the  same;  and  for  any  speech  or  debate  in  either  house,  they  shall  not  be 
questioned  in  any  other  place. 

No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  time  for  which  he  was 
elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  office  under  the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  which  shall  have  been  created,  or  the  emoluments  whereof  shall 
have  been  increased  during  such  time;  and  no  person  holding  any  office 
under  the  United  States,  shall  be  a  member  of  either  house  during  his 
continuance  in  office. 


OF  PASSING  BILLS,  ETC. 
SKC.  7.  All  bills  for  raising  revenue  shall  originate  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  ;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  or  concur  with  amendments  as  on 
•other  bills. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


571 


Every  bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
the  Senate,  shall,  before  it  becomes  a  law,  be  presented  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States;  if  he  approve  he  shall  sign  it,  but  if  not  he  shall  return 
it,  with  his  objections,  to  that  house  in  which  it  shall  have  originated,  who 
shall  enter  the  objections  at  large  on  their  journal,  and  proceed  to  recon 
sider  it.  If,  after  such  reconsideration,  two-thirds  of  that  house  shall 
agree  to  pass  the  bill,  it  shall  be  sent,  together  with  the  objections,  to  the- 
other  house,  by  which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved 
by  two-thirds  of  that  house,  it  shall  become  a  law.  But  in  all  such  cases 
the  votes  of  both  houses  shall  be  determined  by  yeas  and  nays,  and  the 


names  of  the  persons  voting  for  and  against  the  bill  shall  be  entered  on 
the  journal  of  each  house  respectively.  If  any  bill  shall  not  be  returned 
by  the  President  within  ten  days  (Sunday  excepted)  after  it  shall  have 


been  presented  to  him,  the  same  shall  be  a  law,  in  like  manner  as  if  he  had 
signed  it,  unless  the  Congress  by  their  adjournment  prevent  its  return,  in 
which  case  it  shall  not  be  a  law. 

Every  order,  resolution  or  vote,  to  which  the  concurrence  of  the  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives  may  be  necessary  (except  on  a  question  of 
adjournment),  shall  be  presented  to  the  President  of  the  United  States; 
and  before  the  same  shall  take  effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or  being 
disapproved  by  him,  shall  be  re-passed  by  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  according  to  the  rules  and  limitations  pre 
scribed  in  the  case  of  a  bill. 

POWTSR  OF  COVGKESS. 

SEC.  8.  The  Congress  shall  have  [power  to  lay  and  collect  taxes,  duties, 
imposts  and  excises,  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common  defense 
and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States;  but  all  duties,  imposts  and 
excises  shall  be  uniform  throughout  the  United  States; 

To  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States; 

To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  several 
States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes; 

To  establish  an  uniform  rule  of  naturalization,  and  uniform  laws  on  the 
subject  of  bankruptcies  throughout  the  United  States; 

To  coin  money,  regulate  the  value  thereof,  and  of  foreign  coin,  and  fix 
the  standard  of  weights  and  measures ; 

To  provide  for  the  punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  securities  and  cur 
rent  coin  of  the  United  States; 

To  establish  post-offices  and  post-roads; 

To  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts,  by  securing  for  limited 
times  to  authors  and  inventors  the  exclusive  right  to  their  respective 
writings  and  discoveries ; 

To  constitute  tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court; 

To  define  and  punish  piracies  and  felonies  committed  on  the  high  seas, 
and  offenses  against  the  law  of  nations; 

To  declare  war,  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal,  and  make  rules 
concerning  captures  on  land  and  water; 

To  raise  and  support  armies,  but  no  appropriation  of  money  to  that  use 
shall  be  for  a  longer  term  than  two  years ; 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  navy; 

To  make  rules  for  the  government  and  regulation  of  the  land  and  naval 
forces ; 

To  provide  for  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the  Union, 
suppress  insurrections  and  repel  invasions; 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming  and  disciplining  the  militia,  and  for 
governing  such  part  of  them  as  may  be  employed  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States,  reserving  to  the  States  respectively  the  appointment  of  the 
officers,  and  the  authority  of  training  the  militia  according  the  discipline 
prescribed  by  Congress; 

To  exercise  exclusive  legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever,  over  such  dis 
trict  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as  mav,  by  cession  of  particular 
States,  and  the  acceptance  of  Congress,  become  the  seat  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  and  to  exercise  like  authority  over  all  places  pur- 
chnsed  by  the  consent  of  the  Legis]ature  of  the  State  in  which  the  same 
shnll  be,  for  the  erection  efforts,  magazines,  arsenals,  dockyards  and  other 
ncfill'ul  buildings;  and 

To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  crtrrying  into 
execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  powers  vested  by  this  Con- 


572 


CONSTITUTION 


stitution  in  the  government  of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  department  OT 
officer  thereof. 

LIMITATION  OF  THE  POWERS  OF  CONGRESS. 

SEC.  9.  The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  any  of  the  States 
now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the 
Congress  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight,  but  a 
tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importation,  not  exceeding  ten  dol 
lars  for  each  person. 

The  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended,  unless 
when  in  cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  may  require  it. 

No  bill  of  attainder  or  ex  post  facto  law  shall  be  passed. 

No  capitation,  or  other  direct  tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in  proportion  to 
the  census  or  enumeration  hereinbefore  directed  to  be  taken. 

No  tax  or  duty  shall  be  laid  on  articles  exported  from  any  State. 

No  preference  shall  be  given  by  any  regulation  of  commerce  or  revenue 
to  the  ports  of  on  a  State  over  those  of  another;  nor  shall  vessels  bound  to, 
or  from,  one  State,  be  obliged  to  enter,  clear  or  pay  duties  in  another. 

No  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury,  but  in  consequence  of 
appropriations  made  by  law;  and  a  regular  statement  and  account  of  the 
receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public  money  shall  be  published  from 
time  to  time. 

No  title  of  nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United  States :  and  no  person 
holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  them  shall,  without  the  consent 
of  the  Congress,  accept  of  any  present,  emolument,  office  or  title,  of  any 
kind  whatever,  from  any  king,  prince  or  foreign  State. 

LIMITATION  OF  THE  POWERS  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  STATES. 

SEC.  10.  No  State  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance  or  confederation; 
grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal;  coin  money;  emit  bills  of  credit; 
make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts; 
pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post  facto  law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation 
of  contracts,  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  Congress,  lay  any  imposts  or 
duties  on  imports  or  exports,  except  what  may  be  absolutely  necessary 
for  executing  its  inspection  laws;  and  the  net  produce  of  ail  duties  and 
imposts,  laid  by  any  State  on  imports  or  exports,  shall  be  for  the  use  of  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States;  and  all  such  laws  shall  be  subject  to  the  re 
vision  and  control  of  the  Congress. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  consent  of  Congres  ,  lay  any  duty  of  tonnage, 
keep  troops,  or  ships  of  war,  in  time  of  peace,  enter  into  any  agreement  or 
compact  with  another  State,  or  with  a  foreign  power,  or  engage  in  war, 
unless  actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent,  danger  as  will  not  admit  of 
delay. 

ARTICLE  II. 

EXECUTIVE  POWER. 

SEC.  1.  The  executive  power  shall  he  vested  in  a  President  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  office  during  the  term  of  four  years, 
and  together  with  the  Vice-President,  chosen  for  the  same  term,  be  elected 
as  follows : 

MANNER  OF  ELECTING. 

Each  State  shall  appoint,  in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature  thereof  may 
direct,  a  number  of  electors,  equal  to  the  whole  number  of  Senators  and 
Representatives  to  which  the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  Congress;  but 
no  Senator  or  Representative,  or  person  holding  an  office  of  trust  or  profit 
under  the  United  States,  shall  be  appointed  an  elector. 

The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by  ballot  for 
two  persons,  of  whom  one  at  least  shall  not  be  an  inhabitant  with  the 
same  State  as  themselves.  And  they  shall  make  a  list  of  all  the  persons 
voted  for,  and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each  ;  which  list  they  shall  sign 
and  certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate.  The  President  of 
the  Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa 
tives,  open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted.  The 
person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  shall  be  the  President,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed  ;  and  if 
there  be  more  than  one  who  have  such  majority,  and  have  an  equal 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


57 


rrumber  of  votes,  then  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  immediately 
choose  by  ballot  one  of  them  for  President;  and  if  no  person  have  a 
majority,  then  from  the  five  highest  on  the  list  the  said  House  shall  in 
like  manner  choose  the  President.  But  in  choosing  the  President,  the 
votes  shall  be  taken  by  States,  the  representation  from  each  State  having 
one  vote;  a  quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members 
from  two-thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  States  shall  be 
necessary  to  a  choice.  In  every  case,  after  the  choice  of  the  President,  the 
person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  of  the  electors  shall  be  the 
Vice-President.  But  if  there  should  remain  two  or  more  who  have  equal 
V>tes,  the  Senate  shall  choose  from  them,  by  ballot  the  Vice-President. 

TIME  OF  CHOOSING  ELECTORS. 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choosing  the  electors,  and  the 
day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  votes;  which  day  shall  be  the  same 
throughout  the  United  States. 

•WHO  ELIGIBLE. 

No  person  except  a  natural  born  citizen,  or  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  eligible  to  the 
office  of  President;  neither  shall  any  person  be  eligible  to  that  office  who 
shall  not  have  attained  the  age  of  thirty-five  years,  and  been  fourteen 
years  a  resident  within  the  United  States. 


THE  PRESIDENT'S  POWER  DEVOLVES  ON  THE  VICE-PRESIDENT. 
In  case  of  the  removal  of  the  President  from  office,  or  of  his  death,  resig 
nation  or  inability  to  discharge  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  said  office, 
the  same  shall  devolve  on  the  Vice-President,  and  the  Congress  may  by 
law  provide  for  the  case  of  removal,  death,  resignation  or  inability,  both 
of  the  President  and  Vice-President,  declaring  what  officer  shall  then  act 
as  President,  and  such  officer  shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  disability  be 
removed,  or  a  President  shall  be  elected. 

PRESIDENT'S  COMPENSATION. 

The  President  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his  services  a  compensa 
tion  which  shall  neither  be  increased  nor  diminished  during  the  period 
for  which  he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive  within  that 
period  any  other  emolument  from  the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

OATH. 

Before  he  enter  on  the  execution  of  his  office,  he  shall  take  the  following 
oath  or  affirmation  :  '•  I  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  faithfully 
execute  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the  best 
of  my  ability,  preserve,  protect  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States." 

POWERS  AND  DUTIES. 

SEC.  2.  The  President  shall  be  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army  and 
navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  militia  of  the  several  States  when 
called  into  the  actual  service  of  the  United  States;  he  may  require  the 
opinion,  in  writing,  of  the  principal  officer  in  each  of  the  executive  de 
partments  upon  any  subject  relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective 
offices,  and  he  shall  have  power  to  grant  reprieves  and  pardons  for  offences 
against  the  United  States,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment. 

He  shall  have  power,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate. 
to  make  treaties,  provided  two-thirds  of  the  Senators  present  concur;  and 
he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate 
shall  appoint  ambassadors  other  public  ministers  and  consuls,  Judges  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  all  other  officers  of  the  United  States,  whose  ap 
pointments  are  not  herein  otherwise  provided  for,  and  which  shall  be 
established  by  laAv;  but  the  Congress  may  by  law  vest  the  appointment  of 
such  inferior  officers,  as  they  think  proper,  in  the  President  alone,  in  the 
Courts  of  law,  or  in  the  heads  of  departments. 

The  President  shall  have  power  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  that  may  happen 
during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  by  granting  commissions  which  shall  ex 
pire  at  the  end  of  their  next  session. 

SEC.  3.  He  shall,  from  time  to  time,  give  to  the  Congress  information  of 
the  state  of  the  Union,  and  recommend  to  their  consideration  such  mea- 


574  COA'S  TITUTION 

Rures  as  he  shall  incite  necessary  and  expedient;  he  may,  on  extraordinary 
occasions,  convene  both  houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in  case  of  disagree 
ment  between  them,  with  respect  to  the  time  of  adjournment,  he  may 
adjourn  them  to  such  time  as  he  shall  think  proper;  he  shall  receive  am 
bassadors  and  other  public  ministers;  he  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  be 
faithfully  executed,  and  shall  commission  all  the  officers  of  the  United 
States. 

OFFICERS   REMOVED. 

SEC.  4.  The  President,  Vice-President,  and  all  civil  officers  of  the  United 
States,  shall  be  removed  from  office,  on  impeachment  for,  and  conviction 
of,  treason,  bribery  or  other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE  III. 

OF   THE  JUDICIARY. 

SEC.  1.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  be  vested  in  one 
Supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  Courts  as  the  Congress  may  from  time 
to  time  ordain  and  establish.  The  Judges,  both  of  the  Supreme  and  infe 
rior  Courts,  shall  hold  their  offices  during  good  behavior,  and  shall,  at 
stated  times,  receive  for  their  services  a  compensation  which  shall  not  be 
diminished  during  their  continuance  in  office. 

SEC.  2.  The  judicial  power  shall  extend  to  all  cases,  in  law  and  equity, 
arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  and  treaties 
made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under  their  authority ;  to  all  cases  affecting 
ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls;  to  all  cases  of  admiralty 
and  maritime  jurisdiction;  to  controversies  to  which  the  United  States 
shall  be  a  party;  to  controversies  between  two  or  more  States;  between 
a  State  and  citizens  of  another  State;  between  citizens  of  different  States: 
between  citizens  of  the  same  State  claiming  lands  under  grants  of  different 
States,  and  between  a  State,  or  the  citizens  thereof,  apd  foreign  States, 
citizens  or  subjects. 

JURISDICTION  OF  SUPREME  COURT. 

In  all  cases  affecting  ambassadors,  other  public  ministers  and  consuls 
and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  a  party,  the  Supreme  Court  shall  have1 
original  jurisdiction.  In  all  the  other  cases  before  mentioned,  the  Supreme 
Court  shall  have  appellate  jurisdiction,  both  as  to  law  and  fact,  with  such 
exceptions,  and  under  such  regulations  as  the  Congress  shall  make. 

OF  TRIALS  FOR  CRIMES. 

The  trial  of  all  crimes  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be  by  jury ; 
and  such  trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State  where  the  said  crimes  shall  have 
been  committed;  but  when  not  committed  within  any  State,  the  trial 
shall  be  at  such  place  or  places  as  the  Congress  may  by  law  have  directed. 

OF  TREASON. 

SEC.  3.  Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  only  in  levying 
war  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  enemies,  giving  them  aid  and 
comfort. 

No  person  shall  be  convicted  of  treason  unless  on  the  testimony  of  two 
witnesses  to  the  same  overt  act,  or  on  confession  in  open  Court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  declare  the  punishment  of  treason, 
but  no  attainder  of  treason  shall  work  corruption  of  blood,  or  forfeiture, 
except  during  the  life  of  the  person  attainted. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

STATE  ACTS. 

SEC.  1.  Full  faith  and  credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State  to  the  public 


acts,  records  and  judicial  proceedings  of  every  other  State.    And  the  Coi 
gress  may,  by  general  laws,  prescribe  the  manner  in  which  such  acts, 
records  and  proceedings  shall  be  proved,  and  the  effect  thereof. 

PRIVILEGES  OF  CITIZENS. 

SEC.  2.  The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  privileges  and 
immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States. 

A  person  charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony  or  other  crime,  who 
Khali  flee  from  justice,  and  be  found  in  another  State,  shall,  on  demand  of 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  r-r- 

the  executive  authority  of  the  State  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up, 
to  be  removedSo  the  State  having  j  urisdiction  of  the  crime. 

RUNAWAYS  TO  BE  DELIVERED  UP. 

No  person  held  to  service  or  labor  in  one  State,  under  the  laws  thereof, 
escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  consequence  of  ar>y  law  or  regulation 
therein,  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but  shall  be  delivered 
up  oil  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may  be  due. 

NEW  STATES. 

SEC.  3.  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this  Unio  . ; 
but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within  the  jurisdiction  of  any 
other  State;  nor  any  State  be  formed  by  the  junction  of  two  or  more  States, 
or  parts  of  States,  without  the  consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States 
concerned  as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 

TERRITORIAL  AND  OTHER  PROPERTY. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of,  and  make  all  needful  rules 
and  regulations  respecting,  the  territory,  or  other  property  belonging  to 
the  United  States;  and  nothing  in  this  Constitution  shall  be  so  construed 
as  to  prejudice  any  claims  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  State. 

SEC.  4.  The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this  Union  a 
republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect  each  of  them  against 
invasion;  and,  on  application  of  the  Legislature,  or  of  the  Executive 
(when  the  Legislature  cannot  be  convened;,  against  domestic  violence. 

ARTICLE  V. 

AMENDMENTS. 

The  Congress,  whenever  two-thirds  of  both  Houses  shall  deem  it  neces 
sary,  shall  propose  amendments  to  this  Constitution;  or,  on  the  applica 
tion  of  the  Legislatures  of  two-thirds  of  the  several  States,  shall  call  a 
Convention  for  proposing  amendments,  which,  in  either  case,  shall  be 
valid  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  part  of  this  Constitution,  when  ratified 
by  the  Legislatures  of  three-fourths  of  the  several  States,  or  by  Conven 
tions  in  three- fourths  thereof,  as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of  ratification 
may  be  proposed  by  Congress;  provided,  that  no  amendment  which  may 
be  made  prior  to  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight,  shall  in 
any  manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses  in  the  ninth  Section  of  the 
first  Article;  and  that  no  State,  without  its  consent,  shall  be  deprived  of 
its  equal  suffrage  in  the  Senate. 

ARTICLE  VI. 

DEBTS. 

All  debts  contracted,  and  engagements  entered  into,  before  the  adoption 
of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  as  valid  against  the  United  States  under  this 
Constitution  as  under  the  Confederation. 

SUPREME  LAW  OF  THE  LAND. 

This  Constitution,  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  which  -shall  be 
made  in  pursuance  thereof,  and  all  treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made, 
under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme  law  of  the 
land;  and  the  Judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  anything  in 
the  Constitution  or  laws  of  any  State  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 

OATH.— NO  RELIGIOUS  TEST. 

The  Senators  and  Representatives  before  mentioned,  and  the  members 
of  the  several  State  Legislatures,  and  all  executive  and  judicial  officers, 
both  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several  States,  shall  be  bound  by  oath 
or  affirmation  to  support  this  Constitution  ;  but  no  religious  test  shall  ever 
be  required  as  a  qualification  to  any  office,  or  public  trust,  under  the 
United  States. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

The  ratifications  of  the  Conventions  of  nine  States  shall  be  sufficient  for 
the  establishment  of  this  Constitution  between  the  States  so  ratifying  the 
same. 

Done  in  Convention,  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  States  present, 


5/6 


CONSTITUTION 


the  seventeenth  day  of  September,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  and  of  the  Independence* of  the  United 
States  of  America  the  twelfth.  In  witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto  sub 
scribed  our  names. 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 
President,  and  Deputy  from  Virginia. 

New  Hampshire— John  Langdon,  Nicholas  Gilman.  Massachusetts— Na 
thaniel  Gorham,  Rufus  King.  Connecticut— William  Samuel  Johnson, 
Roger  Sherman.  New  York— Alexander  Hamilton.  New  Jersey— William 
Livingston,  David  Brearley,  William  Patterson,  Jonathan  Dayton.  Penn- 
si/lvania — Benjamin  Franklin,  Thomas  Mifflin,  Robert  Morris,  George 
Clymer,  Thomas  Fitzsimmons,  Jared  Ingersoll,  James  Wilson,  Governeur 
Morris.  Delaware— George  Read,  Gunning  Bedford,  Jr.,  John  Dickinson, 
Richard  Bassett,  Jacob  Broom.  Maryland— James  M'Henry,  Daniel  of  St. 
Tho.  Jenifer  Daniel  Carroll.  Virginia — John  Blair,  James  Madison,  Jr. 
North  Carolina— William  Blount,  Richard  Dobbs  Spaight,  Hugh  William 
son.  South  Carotini — John  Rutledge,  Chas.  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  Charles 
Pinckney,  Pierce  Butler.  Georgia— William.  Few,  Abraham  Baldwin. 
Attest  WILLIAM  JACKSON,  Secretary. 


AMENDMENTS  TO  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

[The  first  ten  amendments  were  proposed  by  Congress  at  their  first  session,  in 
1789.  The  eleventh  was  proposed  in  1794,  and  the  twelfth  in  1803.] 

ARTICLE  I. 

FREE  EXERCISE  OF   RELIGION. 

'  Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion,  or 
prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof;  or  abridging  the  freedom  of  speech, 
or  of  the  press;  or  the  right  of  the  people  peaceably  to  assemble,  and  to 
petition  the  Government  for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

ARTICLE  II. 

RIGHT  TO  BEAR  ARMS. 

A  well-regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of  a  free  State, 
the  right  cf  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed. 

ARTICLE  III. 

NO  SOLDIER  TO  BE  BILLETED,   ETC. 

No  soldier  shall,  in  time  of  peace,  be  quartered  in  any  house  without  the 
consent  of  the  owner ;  nor  in  time  of  war,  but  in  a  manner  to  be  prescribed 
by  law. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

UNREASONABLE  SEARCHES  PROHIBITED. 

The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers  and 
effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be  violated  ; 
and  no  warrants  shall  issue  but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  oath 
or  affirmation,  and  particularly  describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and 
the  persons  or  things  to  be  seized. 

ARTICLE  V. 

CRIMINAL  PROCEEDINGS. 

No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  otherwise  infamous 
ci  ime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  Grand  Jury,  except  in 
cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the  militia,  when  in  actual 
service,  in  time  of  war  or  public  danger;  nor  shall  any  person  be  subject 
for  the  same  offense  to  be  put  twice  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb ;  nor  shall 
be  compelled,  in  any  criminal  case,  to  be  a  witness  against  himself;  nor 
be  deprived  of  life,  liberty  or  property  without  due  process  of  law;  nor 
shall  private  property  be  taken  for  public  use  without  just  compensation. 


OF  THE  UNITED  STA  TES. 


577 


ARTICLE  VI. 

MODE    OF    TRIAL. 

In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a  s. 
and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of  the  State  and  district  wherein  the 
crime  shall  have  been  committed,  which  district  shall  have  been  previ 
ously  ascertained  by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of 
the.aecusation ;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him;  to  have 
compulsory  process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his  favor;  and  to  have  the 
assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defense. 

ARTICLE  VII. 

RIGHT  OF  TRIAL  BY  JURY. 

In  suits  at  common  law,  where  the  value  in  controversy  shall  exceed 
twenty  dollars,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be  preserved;  and  no  fact 
tried  by  jury  shall  be  otherwise  re-examined  in  any  Court  of  the  United 
States  than  according  to  the  rules  of  the  common  law. 

ARTICLE  VIII. 

BAIL,.— FINES. 

Excessive  bail  shall  not  be  required,  nor  excessive  fines  imposed,  nor 
cruel  and  unusual  punishments  inflicted. 

ARTICLE  IX. 

RIGHTS  NOT  ENU3IERATKD. 

The  enumeration  in  the  Constitution  of  certain  rights,  shall  not  be  con 
strued  to  deny  or  disparage  others  retained  by  the  people. 

ARTICLE  X. 

POWERS  RESERVED. 

The  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution,  nor 
prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively  or  to 
the  people. 

ARTICLE  XI. 

LIMITATION  OF  JUDICIAL  POWER. 

The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  construed  to  extencr 
to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity  commenced  or  prosecuted  against  one  of  the 
United  States  by  citizens  of  another  State,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of 
another  State,  or  by  citizens  or  subjects  of  any  foreign  State. 

ARTICLE  XII. 

ELECTION  OF  PRESIDENT. 

The  electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and  vote  by  ballot  for 
President  and  Vice-President,  one  of  whom,  at  least,  shall  not  be  an  in 
habitant  of  the  same  State  with  themselves;  they  shall  name  in  their 
ballots  the  person  voted  for  as  President,  and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person 
voted  for  as  Vice-President;  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all  per 
sons  voted  for  as  President  and  of  all  persons  voted  for  as  Vice-President, 
and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which  list  they  shall  sign  and  certify, 
and  transmit  sealed  to  the  seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
directed  to  the  President  of  the  Senate;  the  President  of  the  Senate  shall, 
in  the  presence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  open  all  the 
certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted ;  the  person  having  the 
greatest  number  of  votes  for  President  shall  be  the  President,  if  such 
number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed;  and  if 
no  person  have  such  a  majority,  then  from  the  persons  having  the  highest 
numbers,  not  exceeding  three,  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for  as  President, 
the  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  immediately  by  ballot  the 
President.  But  in  choosing  the  President,  the  vote  shall  be  taken  by 
States,  the  representatives  from  each  State  having  one  vote;  a  quorum 
for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from  two-thirds  of 
the  States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 
And  if  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  not  choose  a  President  when 
ever  the  right  of  choice  shall  devolve  upon  them,  before  the  fourth  day  of 
March  next  following,  then  the  Vice-President  shall  act  as  President,  a* 


578        CONSTITUTION  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

in  the  case  of  the  death  or  other  Constitutional  disability  of  the  Presl. 
dent. 

The  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice-President  shall 
be  the  Vice-President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  number 
of  electors  appointed;  and  if  no  person  have  a  majority,  then  from  the 
Uvo  Highest  numbers  on  the  list,  the  Senate  shall  choose  the  Vice- President ; 
a  quorum  for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number 
of  Senators,  and  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  shall  be  necssary  to  a 
choice. 

But  no  person  Constitutionally  ineligible  to  the  office  of  President  shall 
be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President  of' the  United  States. 

[Ratified  in  1865.] 
ARTICLE  XIII. 

SEC.  1.  Neither  Slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punish 
ment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall 
exist  within  the  United  States,  or  any  place  subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

SEC.  1.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  appropriate 
legislation. 

[Ratified  in  1868.] 
ARTICLE  XIV. 

SEC.  1.  All  persons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and  subject 
to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the 
State  wherein  they  reside.  No  State  shall  make  or  enforce  any  law  which 
shall  abridge  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  Nor  shall  any  State  deprive  any  person  of  life?  liberty  or  property, 
without  due  process  of  law,  nor  deny  to  any  person  within  its  jurisdiction 


the  equal  protection  of  the  laws. 
SEC.  2.  Ret 


?presentatives  shall  be  apportioned  among  the  several  States 
according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting  the  whole  number  of  per 
sons  in  each  State,  excluding  Indians  not  taxed;  but  whenever  the  right 
to  vote  at  any  election  for  electors  of  President  and  Vict-President,  or 
United  States  Representatives  in  Congress,  executive  and  judicial  officers, 
or  the  members  of  the  Legislature  therof,  is  denied  to  any  of  the  male  in 
habitants  of  such  State,  being  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  or  in  any  way  abridged,  except  for  participation  in  rebellion 
or  other  crimes,  the  basis  of  representation  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the 
proportion  which  the  number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to  the 
whole  number  of  male  citizens  twenty-one  years  of  age  in  that  State. 

SEC.  3.  No  person  shall  be  a  Senator  or  Representative  in  Congress, 
elector  of  President  and  Vice-President,  or  hold  any  office,  civil  or  mili 
tary,  under  the  United  States,  or  under  any  State,  who,  having  previously 
taken  an  oath  as  a  member  of  Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of  the  United 
States,  or  as  a  member  of  any  State  Legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or  judi 
cial  officer  of  any  State,  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
shall  have  engaged  in  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  same,  or  given 
aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies  thereof;  but  Congress  may,  by  a  vote  of  two- 
thirds  of  each  House,  remove  such  disability. 

SEC.  4.  The  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  United  States  authorized 
by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  the  payment  of  pensions  and  bounties 
for  service  in  suppressing  insurrection  or  rebellion,  shall  not  be  ques 
tioned;  but  neither  the  United  States  nor  any  State  shall  assume  to  pay 
any  debt  or  obligation  incurred  in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against 
the  United  States,  or  any  claim  for  the  loss  or  emancipation  of  any  slave, 
but  all  such  debts,  obligations  and  claims  shall  be  illegal  and  void. 

SEC.  5.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by  appropriate  legis 
lation,  the  provisions  of  this  article. 

[Ratified  in  1870.] 
ARTICLE  XV. 

SEC.  1.  The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall  not  be 
denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States,  or  by  any  State,  on  account  of 
race,  color  or  previous  condition  of  servitude. 

SEC.  2.  The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  Article  by  appro 
priate  legislation. 


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